Eventus

Look At Me! Women and Ageing is an academic and arts research project that aims to transform the way society views older women.

Eventus was a bid partner with the University of Sheffield and managed the delivery of two community-based photographic projects as part of the Look at Me! Images of Women & Ageing.

Creativity

Professional photographers Laura Pannack and Monica Fernandez were commissioned by Eventus to work with two groups of women;  volunteers for Green Estate, an environmental social enterprise based at the Manor and Castle area of Sheffield and a group of  older women resident at Guildford Grange Extra Care Scheme in Norfolk Park, managed by Places for People.

The photographers encouraged participants to try out creative techniques to capture what ageing means to them and documented the process with photographic portraits of the women involved. These were shared with family and the local community through exhibitions at Guildford Grange and the Dovercourt Road GP Surgery in S2.

Impact

A larger exhibition of work produced by all the project partners was exhibited in public venues in and around Sheffield in March 2011, to mark the centenary of International Women’s Day.

The images and interviews with project participants and project team, and reactions to the images will feed into the dissemination of the project.

The project was funded through the Economic & Social Research Council ‘s New Dynamics of Ageing programme.

Results

The findings of the research project will be shared with policy makers. The University is seeking further research funds to build on the project.