AMDA Foundation - Physician and Photographer Talks about Art and the Elderly

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Vol XVI, Jul `05

Physician and Photographer Talks about Art and the Elderly

Vol XVI, Jul `05

The works of AMDA member and photographer Jeffrey Levine, MD, CMD, have graced covers of the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association (JAMDA) and AMDA's 25th Anniversary Commemorative Faces of Aging. Now, AMDA members and others will be able to bid on his touching and beautiful photographs of elderly Americans during the first annual AMDA Foundation Silent Art Auction, to be held at the AMDA Annual Symposium, March 16 -19, 2006, in Dallas, TX. The auction is another fundraising activity to further long term care research and facilitate the Foundation's effort to support quality studies that can be translated into practice, and will also feature works of art from nursing facility residents from across the country. The auction will offer paintings and other original works of art created by these individuals whose care is the focus of AMDA members.

Dr. Levine recently talked about his passion for photography and how he hopes his works of art will benefit long term care research.

Foundation: What is your favorite photograph and why?

Levine: A photograph that I took on a trip to Mexico and that appeared on the cover of the September 2004 issue of JAMDA. The woman in the photo was part of an indigenous Indian tribe. When I took her picture, she was living in a cave with no running water, electricity, or sanitation. But you look at her face, and she is well groomed and maintains her dignity in spite of a difficult situation.

Foundation: What made you want to participate in this art auction for the Foundation? What do you hope it will accomplish?

Levine: I believe in the AMDA Foundation and its goals. I hope that this art auction will promote the Foundation, as well as stimulate positive images of the elderly and encourage people to go into the field of geriatrics. I was flattered to be asked to participate.

Foundation: How did you get interested in photography? What inspired you to photograph your elderly patients?

Levine: I've always been interested in fine arts. I actually began taking photographs of wounds for teaching about wound care during my residency. One day I started photographing people's faces instead of their wounds. I showed some of these to my students and was surprised but pleased to see that they generated a great deal of discussion about and interest in aging and issues of aging.

So I continued to photograph residents and other elderly individuals, and I started publishing in medical publications such as JAMDA. The very first of my photographs published on a journal cover was of my grandmother, who was 100 at the time.

Foundation: What personal rewards do you get from your photography?

Levine: If you look around at images of aging in our society, they portray the elderly with combination of fear and avoidance. I like to show aging people who are thriving and have maintained the spirit within them.

In other societies and in the early days of this country, aging people were embraced and kept with the family. Caring for them was an honor, not a burden. I want to help promote a return to this respect and reverence for our elderly citizens.