A Journey through Parkinson’s, Pictures and Love in :”Personality Crash”

The YOPN Podcast is proud to present award winning photographer Safi Alia Shabaik.

Check out her project Personality Crash:

"Personality Crash" is a touching project documenting the author's father's journey through Parkinson's Disease, dementia, and Sundowners Syndrome. Initiated in 2013 to bring them closer before the illnesses took their toll, it uses powerful photographs to illustrate the challenges of caregiving and the father's resilience. This podcast explores the project's emotional depth, portraying the universal themes of loss and love when facing debilitating diseases. It showcases how "Personality Crash" humanizes the experience of losing one's identity while aging and highlights the author's profound insights into illness and their capacity for love. The father actively participated in the project until his last day, making it a moving testament to the human spirit's resilience in the face of adversity.

About the author: Safi Alia Shabaik, a Los Angeles native, discovered her passion for visual storytelling at a young age, earning a B.A. with honors in Fine Art from UCLA. She later became an essential part of Grace Jones's life, working as a fashion stylist, documentarian, and personal assistant. Safi's work has graced the pages of publications like The New York Times and Black+White Photography, earning her recognition in Photo Lucida's Critical Mass Top 50. She also received the inaugural Las Fotos Project Foto Award for Self-Expression and a Visual Arts grant from the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA) in collaboration with the Parkinson's Foundation. As a founding member of the Los Angeles Street Collective, Safi Alia Shabaik continues to make a lasting impact in the world of visual arts.