By Any Other Name

'By Any Other Name' was commissioned as part of Wellcome's project, Created Out of Mind, and their research into dementias.

I became interested in PPA (Primary Progressive Aphasia), which includes semantic dementia, in which people might have difficulty finding the right word, and/or talking in a garrulous, roundabout way; and Progressive Non-Fluent Dementia, where people might be slower in speaking and begin to stutter, and/or begin to lose the meaning of the words as well as the words themselves.

I was struck by a short video, in which a subject described tying up roses that had been disarrayed in the wind. Unlike some of those affected by PPA, this gentleman was very fluent in describing his morning activity in the garden, with demonstrative gestures; he just didn’t have the particular word to describe his main subject.

I wanted to create a piece that celebrated the creativity of the human mind in developing other ways to communicate. At its heart is the image of the rose, if not the word for it.

'By Any Other Name' was premiered by the National Youth Choir of Great Britain.