What is Ab-Sense, and how did it come to be?
Ab-Sense was a group exhibition in Düsseldorf in July 2026, where I was honored to display a number of pieces depicting Alzheimer’s disease. For these pieces, I worked with paper and ceramics.
The paper works, “Brain scans I & II,” I made with 2 relief lino blocks, one of both healthy and diseased brains, and hand-printed them in white onto a 40 ft-long paper. On top of the printed images, I used the extracted Alzheimer’s shape (the shape of the actual disease as shown in the brain scans). This almost abstract motif was embossed on top of the printed brains; this motif was slightly raised from the lower printed surface, indicating the growth of Alzheimer’s.
The second work has a repeating printed line of diseased brains down 1 side; this was almost invisible to the eye. When Alzheimer’s first starts to appear, it is almost invisible, but you know something is not quite the same as it once was, let’s call it a gut feeling, like changes slowly becoming visible, the invisible becomes visible, the impacted person is both.
The ceramic pieces are displayed directly on the wall with little pieces of brain/thoughts suspended from them. One ceramic brain is covered in forget-me-not flowers, as this is the symbol for the Alzheimer Society of Ireland in my home country.
The other ceramic piece is blue, as I have read about the blue dye being used in research. The thoughts have cyanotype plants on the reverse, paying tribute to my family members, who loved plants, and nature remembers.
The group exhibition explored the question of absence, this was exhibited with the works of 3 other artists, Dolors Planiol, Jae Jin Park, and Tahmineh Mirmotahari. Together, we created a collective installation experience. Each artist used paper as the common material linking the individual artworks into a unique installation.
I have had 4 family members impacted by Alzheimer’s disease. My first experience was with my grandmother, A, when I was a teenager. Followed by my uncles and great-uncle, S, F, and M, who are currently living with Alzheimer’s disease. I wanted to create something beautiful and unique from the tragedy that this disease brings, and to do something with my artwork to draw attention to Alzheimer’s disease.
Part of the collection of pieces I shared at Ab-Sense, these ceramic and cyanotype sculptures show pieces falling out, attached by chains.
How has working on dementia-related art changed you?
I have worked with the theme of Alzheimer’s disease a few times in the last few years, first with “Forget-me-not I.” With this piece, I embossed sections of white and purple A5 paper into a 30 ft-long thin artwork with a forget-me-not flower as the central motif, then I stitched the sections together, leaving the connection threads (thoughts) visible. Creating these pieces is my way of processing the impact Alzheimer’s has had and is having on my family.
I have different bodies of work, some mentioned here, and I am constantly brought back to working on this subject. My artwork embodies subjects and themes I connect with. When I share my stories, I have been gifted with stories in return. It’s circular.
Michelle Gallagher beside ‘Brain Scans I & II’ hand-printed, large-scale paper works. White ink on white paper displayed printed brain scans of healthy and unhealthy (Alzheimer’s disease) brains.
How has Ab-Sense been received?
While the exhibition was ongoing, discussions with different people were very open and honest about their experiences with Alzheimer’s and loss; I feel it helped them to talk about their experiences, their grief, and living with loss.
I gave a talk about what the work meant to me and where it originated, and the audience told me their personal stories; there were tears in people’s eyes, but also a sort of joy in the sharing of our memories and stories.
This work is dedicated to: My grandmother, uncles, and great uncle.
Find more from Michelle Gallagher on her website, Instagram, and Substack. Ab-Sense was on show in July and is detailed here on Substack. Details here.
