TCF Ep. 465 - Safi Alia Shabaik

The Candid Frame: Conversations on Photography

Ibarionex R. Perello

Cameras, Art, Photoshop, Visual Arts, Career, Interviews, Photographers, Arts, Photography, Photo, Digital

4.8 • 749 Ratings

🗓️ 29 April 2019

⏱️ 84 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Safi Alia Shabaik discovered art and photography at an early age when her mother enrolled her in a pinhole camera class at the California Museum of Science and Industry. She attended UCLA, earning her B.A. in Fine Art with honors. Since then, she has worked as a fashion stylist and photographic documentarian and has lived in both New York and Los Angeles. Post-college, while still in Los Angeles, Catherine Opie became her mentor and taught her the art of large scale color printing in her custom-built darkrooms. While in New York, Safi became fashion stylist, photographic documentarian, personal assistant, travel companion, and confidante to the legendary icon, Ms. Grace Jones, in her personal and public life. Safi was given free rein to photograph anytime they were together. Throughout her life, her work has been about identity, persona, subculture and the humanity of all people. Her subject matter moved from the public realm to the private, when she became a caregiver for her father who was beginning to exhibit symptoms of the disease. Personality Crash: Portraits of My Father Who Suffered from Advanced Stages of Parkinson’s Disease, Dementia, and Sundowner’s Syndrome, her most recent series, is a riveting, collaborative body of work that explores the human condition from an intimate perspective, focusing on her father’s journey up until his death. These intense, beautiful black and white images comprise the artist’s highly personal story but also serve as a universal reminder of what it means to be human. Artist Links: Senior Wellness Resources: Education Resources: Download the free Candid Frame app for your favorite smart device. Click here to download for . Click here to download Support the work we do at The Candid Frame with contributing to our Patreon effort. You can do this by visiting or visiting the website and clicking on the Patreon button. You can also provide a one-time donation via . You can follow Ibarionex on and

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, this is Simon Pierre Tremblay from Quebec, Canada, and welcome to the Canaan Frame.
0:06.0	We all have dreams and aspirations for our lives, which include both good health and happiness.
0:23.3	And for those of us lucky to have stability and access to health care, we have a reasonable
0:28.1	expectation that we'll have a good life into our 70s, 80s, and maybe even longer.
0:34.3	But such longevity doesn't always come free of troubles, as those of us who have or
0:40.8	currently caring for elderly family members know all too well. Whether it's due to physical or
0:47.9	mental decline, the roles of child and parent are being reversed. Medical issues such as Parkinson's disease,
0:57.0	dementia, and Alzheimer's are resulting in financial and emotional demands that few could
1:03.2	anticipate and even fewer are prepared for. Photographer Safi Aliyah Shabayak faced that
1:10.3	situation after her father was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease.
1:15.0	That along with mental health issues including dementia and sundowners required that she and her mother care for her father during his decline.
1:24.6	She had initially embarked on what she thought would be a recording of family history,
1:28.8	but instead it became a collaboration between father and daughter.
1:34.9	And I just felt like now I need to do this before my dad gets to a point where he won't be
1:40.3	able to tell me his stories, right? And so in 2013, I really wanted to start. I started
1:46.5	doing some video of him and logging some of his journey, but it proved that it was
1:51.9	slightly difficult for him because of the Parkinson's. And so I realized that instead of being
1:58.9	able to log that history, this might actually become more about his current
2:05.3	struggle. And we discussed that and he was open to it. And he agreed that we'll do this together.
2:11.7	So we did. And again, in 2013, I started this project, and he didn't have many signs to photograph.
2:21.6	So the photos were fewer back then.
2:25.1	And as the years progressed, as the Parkinson's exhibited more outward manifestations of the disease, it became more apparent that, you know, the imagery would be
	...

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