LIVING WORK OF ART - THE YOUTH OF OLD AGE

SUNSET - /self-portrait/, 2021

Chlorophyll print

ARTDOC Magazine

Artist Statement

The Youth of Old Age explores the challenges and joys of aging through images created using experimental photographic techniques. Every image starts as a meditation that calls for a specific alternative process to create the print.

Each technique complements the concept of the image. Lumen prints manifest meditation-gained enlightenment, cyanotypes indicate slow development of ideas, contact transfers are best to express misplacement, banishing shows hard labor, chlorophyll prints complement natural changes that come with age, anthotypes communicate the evanescence of life and skin transfer process allows the embrace of new possibilities.

Victor Hugo said that fifty is the youth of old age. As I turn 50, I am turning the lens of my camera on myself for the first time, forcing me to face internal and external questions about my identity and life purpose. Even before the age of fifty I experienced identity issues and age discrimination. It is devastating to be dismissed because of age, something you can’t control. I have talked to a lot of people and done research and know that this is a widespread phenomenon worldwide. This work explores the deeply felt pain and the joy and internal growth of aging. My project aims to show that age is just a number. I want to change the way society looks at those who are over fifty.