Art Against Ageism Tackles Ageism through Artistic Activism

Interactive art installations create awareness and change the narrative around aging.

Art Against Ageism is an alliance of creatives, artists, and activists committed to identifying, amplifying, and creating artistic endeavors that confront and address damaging stereotypes about age and aging. Founded by 25-year senior living veteran Meg LaPorte and her former student Jordan Evans, Art Against Ageism uses artistic activism to tackle ageism.

In 2018, LaPorte taught a course The Erickson School of Aging Studies at the University of Maryland leveraging art and creativity to tackle ageism and connected with Evans long after graduation. They were spurred into action after communicating about how the pandemic brought ageism out into the open. Using the course syllabus as a foundation, they created Art Against Ageism, sharing their initiative with the senior living industry.

Art Against Ageism works directly with senior living communities and nursing homes to tackle ageism through creating interactive art installations. They are also frequent exhibitors are senior living trade shows like Leading Age and the American Society on Aging conference—using a photo booth to get people to “own their age” by posing for a photo holding a sign with their age written on it.

“The institutional model for eldercare in this country is heavily ageist. Art is one way we can begin to break down that ageist model. It’s accessible and brings joy and lightens the load of having to talk about a heavy issue,” said LaPorte.

Public Art Installations

Art Against Ageism partners with Inside Out Project, which helps communities tell untold stories as works of public art using large-scale portraits to create temporary murals using biodegradable paper.

The first installation, Aging Is Living: Celebrating Legacy and Community, is a wall lining A.G. Rhodes’ Grant Park facility in Atlanta. The faces of hundreds of residents, staff, and volunteers are wheat-pasted pasted on the wall that sits on a busy road. The second public Art Against Ageism installation was at Forest Hills of DC, a nursing home and assisted living community in Washington, DC.

Community-based nonprofit Tenleytown Main Street partnered with Forest Hills to feature the building-wide mural at the DC Art All Night Festival. Forest Hills’ “See Me, Hear Me: The Art of Living” campaign received a $14,000 grant from AARP to fund a well-known local photographer created custom color portraits of residents and staff.  

Listen to Art Against Ageism founder Med LaPorte and Jordan on the Glowing Older podcast.

Visit https://artagainstageism.org/ to learn more about artistic activism around ageism. Check out this video from the Center for Innovation Conference.