KÖRPER MAGAZINE
Pau de la Calle
Biography
My name is Pau de la Calle and I am a freelance photojournalist based in Barcelona. My interest in photography and my desire to show to help people made me realise the need I have to document what happens in my environment and social problems.
I am graduated as a higher technician in plastic arts and design in photography and specialised in photojournalism and documentary photography.
Documentary Photographer and Photojournalist I www.paudelacalle.com I @paudelacalle I paudelacallefoto@gmail.com
An stranger has come home
,,
She is my grandmother Fina and she suffers from Alzheimer's disease. She has been living at home with us for years due to her dependency. Last week she showed some symptoms of Covid-19. She feels general discomfort, but she cannot say more because of the confusion caused by Alzheimer's. She cannot express or understand what she feels. She does not know how to express or understand what she feels, nor what is happening to her. And this must surely be very distressing. Yesterday the result of the PCR test came back and it was positive for Covid-19. Because of this we have confined ourselves at home with a stranger, the virus.
Núria holds her mobile phone in her hands, the result of Fina's PCR test on the screen.
Fina covers her mouth in anguish after trying to explain her feelings. Over time, communication diminishes until it almost disappears, in many cases it does. There are bright days when it seems that her mental agility has increased, but it is Russian roulette, possibly hours later he will be back to his worst days.
Núria and Laia help Fina to get up and approach the table to eat. It is curious how mobility degenerates almost parallel to that of the mind. With months since the pandemic began, Fina's dementia has increased even more rapidly.
Fina watches the food while Núria serves the dishes. Fina began to lose her appetite as a symptom of the Covid-19, she also suffered from intestinal decomposition and vomiting.
Fina screams in anguish, while Núria knits in the background to de-stress.
Fina holds her head while she waits for dinner to be ready so she can go to bed.
to go to bed.
Núria accompanies Fina to bed. In the photographs on the wall, on the left, Fina and her late husband on their wedding day. In front, Núria with her brother when they were young.
Núria puts her mother's pyjamas on and then puts her to bed. Although she sometimes sleeps peacefully, this is not the norm. She is used to waking up and screaming during the night, interrupting the sleep of those who sleep around her.
Fina eagerly eats an ensaimada. Little by little her appetite has recovered and her intestinal decomposition has diminished. She has started to recover her energy, she seems more awake and cheerful. Two weeks after the onset of the Covid-19 symptoms, they seem to be gradually disappearing.
Fina goes for a walk after being medically discharged by telephone.
PAU DE LA CALLE
"A STRANGER HAS COME HOME"