Public space is where people meet, talk and clash. It is also a place where older women are often invisible. Contemporary culture worships a narrow ideal of beauty, discriminating against age in favour of youth. This is especially prevalent in media representations of women that confront us with impossible ideals of beauty, and the ageist stereotypes in mainstream culture that position older women as less attractive sexually – and on the job market.
This is the background and inspiration for the billboard project HOMAGE TO OLDER WOMEN in Copenhagen 2024. The billboards will present a much more diverse and powerful image of older women – paying tribute to their wrinkles, wisdom and creativity by bringing new images into public space. 100 women artists from, Scandinavia are invited to present their personal take on HOMAGE TO OLDER WOMEN in photographic artworks exhibited on billboards in Copenhagen– an alternative to the commercial advertising that dominates public space worldwide. The invited artists of different generations all present their personal view of an older generation of women.
The project is a tribute, a celebration, and an opportunity to create a cross-generational, cross-border community presenting a different view of older women.
The billboard project is the idea and concept developed by the Danish visual artist Hanne Lise Thomsen in collaboration with curator Lise Grüner Bertelsen
Thomsen has curated and realized BILLBOARD ISTANBUL 2020, BILLBOARD FESTIVAL CASABLANCA in 2015, the Billboard project WE ARE FROM HERE in Ramallah in 2012, and the citywide billboard project WOMEN2003 in Copenhagen and Malmö in 2003.
Homage to older women is supported by:
New Carlsberg Foundation
Danish Arts Foundation
Politiken Foundation
Becket Foundation
Ernst Sune Foundation