Team:UCL/HP/Silver/Art
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AGEING AND ART
Exploring different media to change perceptions
OUR MOTIVATION
In our pursuit of understanding ageing, the thoughts and needs of those our project focuses on, we met with two fabulous artists: Sue Kreitzman and Diane Goldie (please check their websites). We found them through their art project ‘WOW- Wild Old Women’ and were so fascinated with them we had to talk to them in person. Sue invited us to her studio where we had the privilege to see her vibrant, colourful art, as well as some unique and expressive outfits made by Diane. Through art, Sue and Dianne celebrate old age and remove any misconceptions of being "old".
WOW exhibition
First, we asked Sue about the story behind WOW.
Sue: Years ago I was doing my first big exhibition and the one that kind of put me on the artistic map. It was international with people from all over the world. I was in my 60s at the time. I thought there was not going to be anyone as old as me, not many women. But there were a few older women – not my age but close. And we bonded with each other and talked from the heart. I said we could have our own exhibit and we could call it Wild Old Women, WOW. And a few years later I actually did it. I was very lucky that a gallery right next to Tate Modern sponsored us. We had three floors and we made the history. Or maybe I should say herstory. So it was the first show I curated myself. For the next show, I decided it was very sexist to have just women. So we called it ‘Flashier and trashier’ and it was about men and women of a certain age. After that, I invited everyone. We had old people, young people, men, women - anyone with this kind of real, unfettered art.
UCL iGEM: What inspired you to do the work you do?
Sue: ‘That’s an interesting question with a very strange answer. For many, many, many years, I was a food writer and a cook and I wrote twenty-seven cookbooks. Twenty. Seven. And I travelled all around the world teaching my methods of cooking. I cooked on television, I was on BBC all the time and I was on ITV. That was my career and it was a very good career. I made a nice living, interacted with a lot of people, I was completely obsessed with food. One day, I was up in my study, the proofs of my 27th cookbook had arrived. So it was nice: you just go through the manuscript checking for typos, if recipes have the integrity, if everything works together. It is very relaxing because you have already done the work and the next step is there is going to be a book and you are just looking for mistakes.
I was always told I was very, very bad at art. I couldn’t draw, I couldn’t paint, I couldn’t even doodle. I was always pathetic at drawing. I loved colours, I always loved other people’s art but I couldn’t do it myself and I knew that. So I was sitting there with my markers and my pens and my manuscripts and I drew a mermaid on a piece of paper. I never did anything like that before, I do not even know where it came from. And I looked at the mermaid and it looked at me and my life changed forever. I became completely obsessed with drawing, I lost the interest in cooking, I just stopped cooking, stopped writing about food. I could not care less, I was drawing day and night. I was a crazy woman. So maybe it was a menopause, maybe the muse bit me in the bum. I have no idea. I really honestly don’t know what happened but I just could not stop. My agent thought I have really gone crazy. I started drawing with felt pens, I was buying wonderful nail varnish at a local market and I just let it grow from there.
I kept it a secret from my friends but, little by little, it came out. I was in my 60s, now I’m in well my 70s. Now I have an international reputation as an artist and as a curator. I gather other artists like me, I guess the word is ‘untutored’, the art just erupts from somewhere inside them. I always say it does not come from the head, it does not come from the heart, it comes from the gut. And I am not doing it for commerce, I am doing it for the sheer joy. So this is the long answer.’
Ageing
A long conversation about ageing and synthetic biology followed. Sue disagreed that old people are the focus of her work. ‘I’m between 70 and eternity. My work is ageless, I am ageless. It turned out that Sue’s husband has a PhD in biological sciences and both her and Diane were very aware and enthusiastic when it comes to synthetic biology. Diane: ‘Art and science are united. They are the same. Synthetic biology is just another way of making art. There is art in science, there is mathematics in music.’ When asked what she thinks about our project, Sue said: ‘There are many social problems connected with aging. Healthy longevity is what matters.’ Diane added that using viruses for therapy sounds worrying at first ‘virus is a trigger word.’ Sue and Diane frowned when we used the phrase ‘ageing as a disease’ – ‘Life is unhealthy! Have you had a child? Menstruation? Ageing is a natural part of life’ exclaimed Sue. They said that ‘getting old is a privilege and an adventure. Some people don’t get to get old’. Sue also said that she does not like the language used to describe older people ‘Senior citizen, elderly – I hate these words!’. They agreed that health is very important. Ageing in a healthy way makes things much easier but it does not change who you are – with the exception for cognition-impairing diseases such as Alzheimer’s when ‘you are dead before you are dead.’ Talking about the perception of age in our society, both artists complained that not only people of a certain age but everything and everyone in our society is put in a labelled box. ‘Don’t put us in a box! We are you, don’t make us invisible!’. How about the stereotypes, does age make you wiser? ‘Old age concentrates you’ – said Diane, explaining that age does not change people in one way but our characteristics grow stronger with age. Then she added ‘It is our job to do things for people who are younger than us. Make things happen, support them. Sue inspires not only old people – she inspires young people even more. Old people are objectified, invisible. When young people see Sue, they see a possibility, a connection ‘You could be me’’. They both feel that people their age are there to remind the younger ones that one does not have to keep following new trends that can be detrimental to the psychological health. ‘We are about being individuals but holding hands. They (younger people) don’t understand there is another way.’ Asked about the message they would like young people to get when looking at their art, they suggested ‘This is it, this is fabulous! You can be like us!’.
Outcome: what did we learn?
The meeting was a real eye-opener. Despite some stereotypes being obviously wrong, in our everyday lives we tend to follow them. Putting people in a box makes it easier to communicate certain ideas but it also makes the researchers see people as statistics and stops us from fully realising that each of the potential users of our technology is a unique individual. Especially when it comes to the language used to describe older members of our society, a barrier between us ('the young'), and them ('the elderly') is artificially created.
The needs of the older members of the society are not different from those of others: a healthy body, but, even more importantly, a healthy mind.
The final lesson was: do not wear beige, it kills you! (see photos)
WOW and UCL iGEM Collaboration
In order to remove these misconceptions of old age, Sue and Dianne very kindly created a sculpture that was inspired by our project. We have definitely learnt that art can be a wonderful way to communicate points of view and expressions!
A short description of the piece:
'I am not really, an old lady, just cleverly disguised as one'.
I know that I am not immortal, but I am ageless.
With advancing age, great adventures can occur. It is never too late to find your passion, to unlock your hidden talents. Do profound things, dazzle yourself and the world. Contribute to the society and live loud and proud. Life is short, make every moment count.
Remember: growing old is a privilege and an adventure. Don't waste a day of it.
