"AUNTY’S SLIGHTLY COLD hand rested in my palm. When she stood up, I felt her grip tighten around mine. At that moment, I was holding Aunty’s hand, leading her from the living room to the dining area to play a game. Sometimes, Aunty didn’t feel like playing, so I used a gentle, coaxing tone to invite her to join. She responded like a grandmother indulging her grandchild, smiling and nodding softly. I thought then that she needed more movement to help with her blood circulation. As we walked, our hands naturally loosened and tightened with each step." (Excerpt from “4.12 p.m.—Hand in Hand”)
The excerpt from Ming, a care partner and social worker, comes from the Urut-urut (lit. “massage-massage” in Malay) project, which captures the daily routines of the care partners of people living with dementia (see Penang Monthly, March 2026). Other recordings by Ming include “3.11 p.m.—‘Uncle, come and have green bean soup!’” and a conversation about papaya trees, depicting the intimate and often invisible gestures that sustain daily care. Each one is marked by the moment the alarm rings, prompting care partners to note their tactile sensations, feelings and thoughts just immediately prior.
Urut-urut is a series of workshops developed in collaboration with Pen-ang-based care partners of people living with dementia. These artistic research workshops explore care partnering and dementia through the senses, memory and imagination using a range of artistic tools. In this process, team members act as co-authors, shaping the work collectively through shared reflection and experience by asking what care looks like, and how we can talk about it.
