Cohort 
2018

Dana Walrath, PhD, MFA

Writer, Artist, Anthropologist

Reducing poverty across the lifecycle and shifting the narratives around all forms of cognitive diversity will change the experience of dementia globally.

Current Work

Dana Walrath, a writer, artist, and anthropologist, likes to cross borders and disciplines with her work. She is working on a sequel to her acclaimed graphic memoir Aliceheimer's titled Between Alice and the Eagle and on the libretto for the translation of Aliceheimer's into an opera. Her interactive installation The Book of Genocides was featured at the Southern Vermont Arts Center. 

Personal Hero

Those who can let go and trust and care for others

Words of Strength

Creating innovative combinations and connections

Vision

The current pandemic has rendered the social and political roots of sickness impossible to ignore. Reducing poverty across the lifecycle and shifting the narratives around all forms of cognitive diversity will change the experience of dementia globally.

Strategy

Dana is working on a sequel to her graphic memoir Aliceheimer’s that will blend personal memoir with an anthropological discourse on the end of life, stigma, gender, labor flows, and dementia across the globe.

Impact

Linking with fellows from across the global Atlantic Fellow programs has led to new collaborations on narrative, the arts, justice, and health. Dana was delighted to have co-authored an “art of medicine” essay (Lancet 2019) with Dr. Brian Lawlor on the social change that dementia can set into motion.

Motivation

To help overcome the fear and stigma surrounding all mind troubles in the United States, her work uses visual and verbal storyteliing to shift the dominant narratives and improve the lives of people living with dementia and other forms of cognitive diversity.