Flesh After Fifty: The Exhibition
Jane Scott has been talking to older women about their naked bodies, and what she learnt shocked her. “Stories came out about the embarrassment and shame that a lot of them felt,” says the lead curator and program manager of Flesh After Fifty, an exhibition currently on display at the Abbotsford Convent in Melbourne. “A lot of them said they just don’t look at their body anymore because they’ve been made to feel as though there’s something wrong about an older, ageing body.”
The conversations came as part of the call-out for women to pose nude for photographer Ponch Hawkes’ 500 Strong series, on display as part of Flesh After Fifty. The exhibition has a very clear message. “If we keep reinforcing that the only body worth having is the young, nubile one,” says Scott, “people miss out on getting the best out of their lives and enjoying themselves.
“The flipside of that is to show people that growing old is not the worst thing that’s going to happen to you, not by a long shot. Too much energy is wasted on people worrying about that instead of looking at the health issues: how do I keep myself fit, engaged and happy? Because those things are much more important than worrying about having wrinkles and boobs not being where they used to be.”
Getting the exhibition up and running was a challenge in itself, a stark reminder of just how invisible older women can be. However, Scott was driven by a conversation she had with Professor Martha Hickey, an expert in the field of healthy ageing for women, about the need for more understanding about the different aspects of ageing.
“Martha felt health messages were not cutting through [and] wondered whether an art exhibition could help create a broader awareness. My response? Absolutely.”
“How do I keep myself fit, engaged and happy? Those things are much more important than worrying about having wrinkles and boobs not being where they used to be.”
The exhibition features more than 50 artists and makers and as well as performances, health forums and this weekend’s mini film festival, Flicks After Fifty screening Advanced Style, Gloria and Hip-Hop-eration among others.
A particularly striking piece is Penny Byrne’s The Cloak of Invisibility, consisting of two plinths. On the first stands a pretty porcelain figurine of a small-waisted young woman, buxom and smiling. Underneath is the description, “Woman Under 50.” The second plinth is empty. Its description? “Woman Over 50, Cloak of Invisibility”.
“Women over 50 talk about feeling invisible in society,” says Byrne. “I was thinking about Harry Potter and its invisibility cloaks, how no-one can see them when they’re creeping around underneath them. I thought, ‘How can I represent that’s how older women feel?’ They haven’t chosen that, but that’s what they are wearing. [The empty plinth] is a powerful way to articulate that she’s not there.” Each piece is accompanied by music. Scan the QR code for the young woman and you hear Annie Lennox singing Keep Young And Beautiful. For the other? Alison Moyet’s Invisible.
Another showstopper is Greg Taylor’s Cunts… and Other Conversations, which Jane Scott first saw at Hobart’s Museum of Old and New Art (MONA), consisting of a series of vulvae. Inspiration struck Taylor when a female torso he had shaped out of clay shattered after being fired in the kiln. The only thing that survived was the vulva, and Taylor was struck by its singularity and beauty. Says Scott, “You see the first one, and you go, ‘Oh right, that’s what a vulva looks like.’ Then you look at the next and you can’t believe it’s so different. Then you go to the third and say, ‘I had no idea!’ and by the time you get to number 32, you go, ‘They come in all shapes and sizes!’
“That’s the experience I brought with me to this exhibition. I want people to come in, look at an older woman who’s nude and, [although you might] be momentarily confronted, as you progress through the exhibition and you see it in the context of other women of different shapes and sizes, you go, ‘That’s fantastic. That’s what older women look like.’
“We’re all going in the same direction, and I hope people come away feeling more relaxed about what real bodies look like and relate that to perceptions of themselves.”
Want more Tonic delivered direct to your inbox? Subscribe here
Interview_Rachelle Unreich
Images_ Supplied