From driving mustangs to wrangling golden retrievers . . . a new online image library from the University of the Sunshine Coast is challenging how Australians see ageing.
Featuring photographs by older Australians themselves as part of a healthy ageing project, the Picture Yourself image library launches tomorrow, offering a more realistic and respectful portrayal of older people in everyday life.
The library is the result of a research project led by UniSC Senior Lecturer in Photography Dr Tricia King and supported by Creative Australia, and features more than 500 photographs of older Australians, the majority taken by older photographers.
The images are freely available for non‑commercial use under a Creative Commons license, allowing journalists, educators, researchers and organisations to download images.
Dr King said the project was born out of frustration with the narrow and often harmful way ageing is often visually represented.
“The images we usually see online of older adults are very stereotypical. They often portray a deficit of what growing older means,” Dr King said.
“You see images of people looking lonely, staring out windows, being helped, or being taught by someone younger. That’s not an accurate reflection of older Australians’ lives.”
Instead, the library shows older people living their everyday lives - socially connected, active, creative and engaged, alongside images that also acknowledge the full reality of ageing, including health care, care settings and support.
The gallery is part of a broader research project that involved training more than 80 older photographers across Australia, who were given skills, creative control and authorship over how ageing is visually represented.
“When older adults have authority over their own representation, it changes the narrative, not just publicly but for the people involved themselves,” Dr King said.
“We have called it an age‑authentic library to capture the full gamut of older experience, not just extremes at either end.”
Dr King said ageism affects people across the entire life course, with damaging consequences.
“Younger people are fearful of getting old, and older people internalise these stereotypes, and that’s really harmful,” she said.
“If we change the narrative, we can change how people think, behave and relate to ageing.”
At UniSC, the initiative aligns with the University’s strong healthy ageing focus, which looks beyond medical care to social connection, creativity and wellbeing.
Dr King said one of the most rewarding outcomes has been seeing participants reconnect with purpose and identity.
“I’ve had photographers tell me the project has changed how they see themselves and their value,” she said.
“One photographer in Melbourne picked up a camera for the first time in 15 years, since she was a Hollywood photographer working with the likes of George Clooney, and said it reconnected her to what she loved in the prime of her life.
“She’d heard that all the photos available of older people with dogs were always with little white fluffy dogs, so she took it on herself to photograph people with German Shepherds and big golden retrievers for a beautiful collection on animal companionship.
“Another photographer Gary, from the Sunshine Coast, had a friend who wanted to be photographed in front of the Big Pineapple with his red mustang. And so that’s what he did. And now it’s being used in an online story about older drivers.”
UniSC partners including Living Your Best Life in Melbourne, and ComLink in Queensland, Princess Alexandra Gerontological and Rehabilitation Unit, have also invited the photographers to take pictures and exhibit their work at their locations.
The project is supported by the Australian Association of Gerontology and Comlink Australia.
The Picture Yourself image library is now live and available.
Media enquiries: Please contact the Media Team media@usc.edu.au