Artist celebrating the lifetime of stories built up by older people

Artist Alana James wants to change the narrative on ageing — one person and one portrait at a time. And she’s issuing a call to people over 75 to get in touch

Dr E Alana James.

“Age isn’t well portrayed in modern culture,” Alana says from her Kinsale home where she moved in 2006 from Colorado. “People see a person with white hair, over 75, and they think ‘that’s an old person’.” Advertising often links older people with disability, she points out. “Watch TV and you see lots of ads for chairs that get you around, people with walkers and canes, in order to portray an older person.

“I say ‘let’s change the narrative,” says the 69-year-old who’s doing a series of portraits where everybody’s aged at least 75. “Already, I’ve lined up people in their 70s, 80s and 90s. And when I’ll show them their portraits, the people will be two-and-a-half metres tall — they’ll be bigger than life-size. It’ll be them, right now as they are, as older people. But behind them, and on the floor around them, will be bubbles depicting moments from their lives.”