“My mother is feeding my father. He is no longer able to chew his food. My mother prepares mashed food for him.” – JALAL SHAMSAZARAN/NVP IMAGES

by Alissa Ambrose – photos by Jalal ShamsaZaran

“Alzheimer’s disease runs in photographer Jalal Shamsazaran’s family: his aunt, grandfather, and father, Majid, all have been diagnosed.

“So as he documented the final years of his father’s life, in Tabriz, Iran, Shamsazaran recognized his own potential future.

“’Perhaps the character and behavior of my father is a part of my character and behavior in future,’ he told STAT via a translator. ‘I can say that I am photographing myself.’

“Shamsazaran’s photographs depict grief and loss, but also show the strength and love in his family. In the photo above, Shamsazaran’s mother, Aliyeh, tightly embraces her husband during the late stage of his illness. In another, a portrait drawn by a young grandchild is placed by the elder Shamsazaran’s sleeping face — a reminder of the passage of time that a diagnosis like Alzheimer’s makes all the more apparent.”

Continue reading this article at STATnews; click here.