The sixth annual Brain Project was back again this weekend at Friday Harbour in Innisfil, featuring brain sculptures created by various local and global artists to help raise awareness on brain disease.
The Brain Project art exhibit includes three-dimensional, brain-shaped canvases decorated using different mediums chosen by the individual artist. The exhibit aims to bring awareness about brain health and is a fundraiser toward the fight against Alzheimer's and other related forms of dementia.
Each brain is decorated using a variety of materials such as paint, wood, wool, pins, foam, and metals, and features a different theme or story connected to the artist who created their piece. Artists include painters, sculptors, musicians, broadcasters, celebrities, performance artists, influencers, and creative thinkers.
All the brains are for sale – ranging in price from $2,500 up to $20,000 – with all proceeds donated to the Brain Project to aid in continued brain research.
Organized by the Baycrest Foundation (a global leader in brain health and aging), the Brain Project was launched as a ‘charitable art installation’ to encourage everyone to start talking and thinking about brain health at an early age.
“It’s something we need to talk more about because dementia is a public health concern, globally and here in Canada,” says Josh Cooper, president and CEO of Baycrest Foundation. “There’s no cure for any of it, but there are ways to delay the onset by up to five years. If we can delay the onset of dementia, then we can reduce the prevalence in the population by one-third.”
The Baycrest Foundation is home to Canada’s largest, long-term care home facilities with many locations all over Ontario and their main campus located in Toronto. The centre features one of the world’s top research institutes in cognitive neuroscience called the Rotman Research Institute, and is Canada’s largest national dementia research program.
According to the Baycrest Foundation, approximately 600,000 people in Canada currently live with Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia. The organization promotes ways to keeping your brain active and healthy including healthier eating, meditating, exercise, and proper sleep, as well as activities that will improve one’s memory and thinking skills such as learning to speak a second language or playing a musical instrument.
Cooper admits during COVID lockdowns he attempted to learn how to play guitar to help keep his mind active while learning something new.
“It’s hard, but I was doing it for brain health,” he says. “I’m not very good at it and I won’t be playing in public any time soon, but at least I’m helping my brain power.”
Cooper adds that it’s never too late to start more brain activities and encourages people of all ages to pick up something new and start learning.
“It we can get the conversation started now and get the younger population to starting thinking about it… a combination of factors over a lifetime can help to reduce those chances of having or dementia later in life.”
Toronto-based sculptor Giovanna Galuppo created a brain-piece for the exhibit in honour of her late grandmother who lived with Galuppo for 10 years and suffered from Alzheimer's.
“My grandmother was everything to me and she progressed to ‘not all there’, so I wanted to participate in this to help with awareness,” says Galuppo.
Galuppo, who is originally from Venezuela and moved to Canada eight years ago, says she had always seen the brains on display in Toronto previous years, but did not occur to her to participate until she saw an ad to apply.
“That period of time with my grandma, our experiences and interactions, you realize how important that is for our development,” she says. “Without those, we disintegrate.”
Galuppo explains she hand-cut tiny squares of cardboard stock to represent every moment lived and each memory shared. She left the front portion of the brain blank with only wires running through the piece to represent those moments where ‘we’re slowly fading away’.
“People who have influenced us or shaped us over the years, that sense of connection… to that moment where we’re losing our memories, we forget those moments,” she says.
Galuppo’s brain sculpture is for sale at Friday Harbour for $2,500 and 100 per cent of the proceeds are donated back to the foundation’s project.
“I encourage everyone to visit the sculptures, but also to take one action today that will benefit your brain – meditating for example,” she says.
The brain project is scheduled to return to Friday Harbour again for the Labour Day long weekend.
Visitors view all the brains online and can also purchase a mini wooden brain for $20 in support of the Baycrest Foundation through 5he Brain Project’s website at www.brainproject.ca.
