Photographic Representations of Old Age: Between Sensitization and Social Anesthesia

Abstract

In this article we focus on several key questions about the relationship between photography and old age. Without undertaking the task of mapping the entire potential area of exploration, we focus on several points of contact, such as: the history of the medium in the context of taking up themes concerning people of advanced age, the commercial shaping of the image of the elderly, the documentary approach to the subject (private document, public document), the nostalgic and subversive approach to old age. We consider how the various genres of photography create the image of old age, but also for what purposes these images are intended. In doing so, we take into account the negative/ironic/distanced attitude of contemporary society toward old age, being aware that photography both sensitizes and desensitizes us to certain phenomena and, by co-creating them, also perpetuates our ideas of what aging and old age are.