Wisdom Gone Wild tells the remarkable story of Rose Tajiri, a Nisei woman who at the end of her life, following the onset of dementia, reinvents herself through her interactions with her daughter/care partner, bestowing a new name and identity on herself, altering her past along with her present. It is radically intimate, funny, and at the same time does not shy away from being painfully honest about living with dementia. Filmmaker Rea Tajiri puts her mother's storytelling wisdom at the heart of this film. Wisdom Gone Wild offers a different story about aging, and about living with dementia: rather than centering a disease, the film centers Rose's perspective, in its form and its content, telling the story of a life to be valued, rather than a problem to be willed away.

Working closely with filmmaker Rea Tajiri, I designed the title art, credits, and poster to reflect the film’s intimate and poetic story. The poster’s typography is actually painted by the film maker, after we realized it was the best solution fo the film. All images ©Rea Tajiri.