Katherine Hubbard’s “The Great Room”: A Photographic Journey Through Dementia

During the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020, New York-based artist Katherine Hubbard began noticing changes in her mother Antonette Berger, who was living alone in Philadelphia. After restrictions eased, Hubbard moved in to care for Berger, who was later diagnosed with LATE (limbic-predominant age-related TDP-43 encephalopathy), a slowly progressing condition that mimics Alzheimer’s. The diagnosis triggered a five-year photographic project that captures Berger’s apartment at 151 Germantown Avenue, a sprawling, dilapidated building Berger owned and rented for four decades.

The Guardian

Hubbard installed two vintage Polaroid cameras in the apartment and, over five years, produced a series of images titled The Great Room. She incorporated found objects—such as rotting 1960s mirror doors—to construct stages, using reflections to “project [herself] into the image” and alter power dynamics. In the darkroom, mother and daughter performed body-print sessions, covering themselves in Vaseline and pressing their bodies onto photographic paper, a choreographed process that required careful safety assistance.

The Guardian

Hubbard emphasizes that Berger was not a collaborator in the formal sense; navigating consent with dementia was “complex,” and respecting Berger’s limits was paramount.

The Guardian

The photographs and related installations are on view at Studio Voltaire in London from 7 October through 10 January 2027.

The Guardian

• “My mum is incredibly headstrong, eccentric, and difficult – she’s completely her own person,” — Katherine Hubbard

The Guardian

• “They were weird and hard to make,” — Katherine Hubbard

The Guardian