This project - more commonly known as the Look at Me! Images of
Women and Ageing Project - involved older women in the creation of
alternative visual images of ageing. The aim was to equip participants
with novel means of challenging media stereotyping and the invisibility
that older women often experience. Researchers worked in collaboration
with 41 self-defined older women (aged 43-96). The project used a range
of qualitative visual methods to produce knowledge about older women’s
everyday experiences. The women created a diverse range of visual
outputs including photos, fine art and sculpture and this work was
displayed at exhibitions in a number of locations across the UK.
Audiences at the exhibitions included participants, their family and
friends, local politicians and members of the public. The project found
that compared with the women in older age groups (75+ years) baby
boomers were more conscious being stereotyped, misrepresented, or absent
from media images and felt greater pressure on them to look a certain
way.
Collectively across the project participants called for more images
of “ordinary”, “real” or “natural” older women in the media who had not
been surgically or digitally enhanced. They also wanted to see
representations which show older women can make a contribution and be
independent so that younger people might be less fearful of ageing. 
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Copyright for all images belongs to the
Representing Self - Representing Ageing project, funded by the New
Dynamics of Ageing cross-council research programme (grant number:
RES-356-25-0040)
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