Flesh After Fifty

We live in a society swamped with images, where high value is placed on physical appearance and an association between attractiveness and youth, particularly for women. This groundbreaking exhibition will explore and challenge negative stereotypes of aging while celebrating and promoting positive images of older women through art.

New art has been commissioned and existing art revisited from some of Australia’s most dynamic and innovative individual and groups of artists, including:  Penny Byrne, Maree Clarke, Megan Evans, Janina Green, Ponch Hawkes, Sam Jinks, Deborah Kelly, Niki Koutouzis, Hotham Street Ladies, Ruth Maddison, Patrick Pound, Cathy Staughton and Catherine Bell, Greg Taylor and Peter Wegner.

Accompanying the exhibition is a mix of free and ticketed public programs with talks, workshops and performances all designed to celebrate and inform older women.

Ticketed events

Writers’ Panel, Sunday 7 March 4pm

The Boîte presents The Stiletto Sisters, Saturday 12 March 6.30pm

Women’s Dinner, Sunday 13 March 7pm

Women’s Circus Workshop, Wednesday 17 March 6.30pm

Hotham Street Ladies Workshop, Friday 19 March 6pm

Our Life in the Nude, Saturday 20 March 7pm

GoGo Dancing for over 50s, Thursday 25 March 6.30pm

Flicks After Fifty, Friday 26 March – Sunday 28 March

Team

Professor Martha Hickey
is a clinical psychologist and gynaecologist. She is Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Melbourne, Director of Gynaecology Research Centre at the Royal Women’s Hospital, Head of Menopause Service at the Women’s and Visiting Professor at Harvard University.

Her research and clinical work are focused on healthy ageing in women, including both physical and emotional health. She conceived this project out of concern that the message to younger women about menopause ageing was almost exclusively negative and did not reflect the capability, diversity and achievements of older women.

She has extensive experience in designing, running and completing research projects with over 300 publications in women’s health. She has established collaborations the auspicing body (the Women‘s Foundation) and with Women’s Health Victoria. She is a powerful advocate of gender equality and a champion of older women.

Jane Scott
Program Manager and Senior Curator

Kirsty Grant
Assistant Curator

Dianna Wells
Graphic design

Ben Davis
Website Manager

Respecting the Convent’s past

This event takes place in the Magdalen Laundry. The Convent was inscribed on the National Heritage List in August 2017, with the Magdalen Laundry and asylum buildings recognised as an important physical record for those Australians and their families known as the Forgotten Australians. We recognise and honour the thousands of girls and women placed in care at the Convent, including those who laboured in the onsite Magdalen Laundry. The harm of institutionalisation and the trauma experienced by many residents is acknowledged as part of the Convent’s heritage. The Magdalen Laundry provides a space for artists, audiences and communities to experience new practices, narratives and histories, while respecting the heritage and social history of these spaces.