Definition
The term “aging and photography” does not refer to photographs of older people exclusively. Part of a history of representations in visual culture grounded in an understanding of “old” as variable and context dependent, it branches out into an array of photographic practices, usages, and explorations. Not a homogeneous field, “aging and photography” comprises photographic works exploring aging, cultural research, and the use of photography in aging-related environments.
In the outcome of diverse photographic practices, cultural factors, or individual projects, photographic representations of older people reveal – intentionally or not – perceptions of physical and psychic transformations or reflect aging as social construction. Research in the specific field of aging and photography – mostly based on popular visual culture – emerged in cultural studies and theories of difference in the 1990s. As a consequence of demographic developments, the practice of photography has been...
References
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Cristofovici, A. (2021). Aging and Photography. In: Gu, D., Dupre, M.E. (eds) Encyclopedia of Gerontology and Population Aging. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-22009-9_258
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