Leah Beach presenting dementia photos in Japan

Rehoboth’s Leah Beach has been asked to present her photographs at the Alzheimer’s Disease International’s International Alzheimer’s Conference in Kyoto, Japan. The conference will take place April 26–29.

Beach, featured as a Saltwater Portrait in the Oct. 25 issue of the Cape Gazette, has been traveling the world since 2011 photographing people living with Alzheimer’s and dementia.

“My overall objective is to create a visual story depicting how people are living their lives with dementia in the most rural underdeveloped areas, as well as our world's most innovative treatment methods,” Beach wrote in a Jan. 13 email.

A lot of dementia organizations spend time and resources finding a cure, said Beach, while so many people worldwide are desperate for their communities to understand they have a disease.

ADI helps create and sustain dementia groups and organizations in over 72 countries, and most importantly the developing world, said Beach. ADI can use the photos for awareness campaigns in countries all over the world and it will bring credibility to the work, she said.

It’s an exceptional opportunity, she said.

“I will be able to meet with and discuss with dementia group members in all of the countries I am interested in photographing in,” Beach said.

Beach, whose great-grandmother was her first subject, is confident her work will make a difference.

“This work will transform the global perspective of this disease, and bring much-needed awareness and resources to this desperately misunderstood disease,” she said.

Beach said there’s a need to spread the word.

The project’s next step is to create contacts in countries around the world to photograph in, said Beach, who went to Costa Rica this past fall for the Latin America's Dementia conference.

Beach has set up a crowdfunding page to help with costs of airfare and accommodation. For more information, or to make a donation, go to https://igg.me/at/LnmuSmzeJtk. Beach is accepting donations until Wednesday, March 1. A full representation of Beach’s work can be seen at leahbeach.com.