A couple weeks ago, I found out my grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and dementia, and as often happens in my life, I ended up with in a moment at a place that was exactly where I should be. I happened to visit a museum and the entire theme of their exhibition was dementia and memories. I hadn’t planned to go there then and had no idea what was on showcase but it’s happened so many times in my life before. Stepping through the rooms with various artworks paying homage to memories remembered and lost, we came into a room which was so poignant and beautiful and filled my eyes with tears in the same moment. A crape myrtle tree, blooming and fading in cycles, like the vibrant matriarch who has always held our family together and taught love, kindness, and graciousness. As we begin to watch her memories drift, her inability to speak, this piece reminds me that even as petals fall, her love remains, rooted deeply and eternally in all of us that have grown up with her in our lives. I’m so grateful to have had her as my grandmother and that my daughter could spend so much time with her great-grandmother. She hasn’t eaten in three days and here I am crying in a cafe remembering the forts we built in her backyard, the best sandwiches she’d make for lunch, singing songs in her car as she drove us from place to place, and how deeply and always she hugged and kissed me. Artwork: A century-old crape myrtle tree is revived in this exhibition through a collaboration between PODO Museum and gardening studio SUMU. Known as mok-baik-il-hong, meaning “red for one hundred days,” it symbolizes patience and enduring beauty as it blooms from early summer to late autumn. This 6-meter-tall tree appears to be reborn in the exhibition, cycling through life’s seasons, budding, blossoming, and gracefully shedding petals. Eight projectors bring the tree’s story to life, including videos from the 2023 ‘Memory Video Contest,’ capturing love and memories that live on even as they fade. 📍 @podomuseum Address: 788 Sallongnam-ro, Andeok-myeon, Seogwipo-si, Jeju-do (제주특별자치도 서귀포시 안덕면 산록남로 788) #remembering #podomuseum #포도뮤지엄 #제주도 #제주가볼만한곳 #alifewelllived