Julia Henderson

Visual Age Justice: Resisting Cultural Ageism through an Inclusive “Healthy Aging” Visual Art Contest

Dr. Julia Henderson

University of British Columbia

julia.henderson@ubc.ca

Cultural ageism systematically denies dignity, rights, inclusion and justice for older adults. Hence the United Nations has declared 2021-2030 the Decade of Healthy Aging, and identified combatting ageism as a global priority. One way ageism circulates is through visual imagery. Visual ageism is “the social practice of visually underrepresenting older people or misrepresenting them in a prejudiced way” (Loos & Ivan 164). To resist visual ageism, it is necessary to expand the repertoire of images of aging and older age to be more inclusive and non-discriminatory. This paper describes and analyses a visual art contest sponsored by the University of British Columbia’s (UBC’s) Edwin S H Leong Centre for Healthy Aging, and its Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health. The contest was developed for the purpose of countering ageism in visual imagery and promoting images of “healthy human aging.” The contest had an open call seeking artwork representing healthy human aging, as defined by the World Health Organization’s inclusive definition. Submissions were invited from two groups: (1) residents of the Canadian province of British Columbia (to promote community engagement), and 2) faculty, trainees, or staff of the affiliated centres (to promote knowledge translation). The contest received fifty-one entries, with media including painting, drawing, photography, sculpture, digital arts, and textile arts. Entries were judged by five jurors with experience in gerontology and/or visual art. Sixteen finalists were chosen to display their works at in-person exhibition at UBC where prizes were awarded. Select finalist artworks were transferred to a community gallery in the lobby of a local theatre during the run of a play with aging-related themes. A second artist night took place at this exhibition. This paper details elements leading to the success of the art contest, offers an analysis of select finalists’ artworks for how they resisted visual ageism, and reflects on the audience responses at the two artist nights. Overall, I argue that The Healthy Aging Visual Art Prize competition did important cultural work expanding the repertoire of images of healthy human aging in ways that resisted ageism and promoted inclusivity.

Reference

Loos, Eugene and Loredana Ivan. "Visual Ageism in the Media." Contemporary Perspectives on Ageism. vol. 19, edited by Ayalon, Liat, and Clemens Tesch-Römer, Springer International Publishing AG, Switzerland, 2018. pp. 163-176. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-73820-8."

BIOGRAPHY

Julia Henderson is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Occupational Science and Occupational Therapy at University of British Columbia. She is a registered occupational therapist and holds a PhD in Theatre. Her research with older adults uses arts-based methods, especially theatre, to redress cultural ageism and promote citizenship. Julia is Chair of the North American Network in Aging Studies, Co-chair of Community Engagement with UBC’s Edwin S H Leong Centre for Healthy Aging, and an investigator with the Concordia University-based SSHRC Partnership Project, “Aging in Data.” Julia’s research is published in Frontiers in Health Services, Leisure/Loisir, Canadian Theatre Review, Journal of American Drama and Theatre, Theatre Research in Canada, Age Culture Humanities, Thornton Wilder Journal and Research in Drama Education. She also has recent chapters in Aging Studies and Ecocriticism, The Palgrave Handbook of Literature and Aging, and Pandemic Play: Community in Performance, Gaming, and the Arts.