AFTER losing her mother to dementia last year, a York artist is aiming to raise awareness of carers and the disease.

Karen Winship, who grew up in Fulford, has painted a series of portraits which she hopes will help to raise the awareness of the difficulties that carers of dementia patients have to go through, as well as raising awareness of the disease itself.

The artist, who teaches art classes in York, lost her mother, Gwen Benson, to the disease in March last year and also has a friend suffering from the disease.

Gwen was 82 when she died and had been living in a care home for three years.

Karen said: “I want to help people realise the difficulties that carers dealing with dementia have to go through.

“It can be a struggle to see them slipping away day by day.”

Karen found participants by posting on social media site Facebook, in which she asked for carers of dementia patients to get in touch if they would like their family member or friend suffering from the disease to be a part of the body of work. Some of the portraits are also of people Karen knows.

She said: “One of the positive experiences I have had with a dementia patient was with a man who shared the same care home as my mother.

“He was playing the piano and was able to play it perfectly, like he apparently could before he was diagnosed with dementia.

“This made me think about how although it can change people, there are still glimpses of their past occasionally shown.”

The collection by Karen includes 12 portraits of local people suffering from dementia.

A preview exhibition will take place at York St John’s Spark community theatre from Friday, September 27 until Sunday 29. It will then be displayed at City Screen in January.

The exhibition is in aid of the Alzheimers Society, details of which can be found at: https://www.alzheimers.org.uk/