Emily Hutchinson

50 / Fifty

The point in a woman’s life when she is most likely to be represented (or feel represented) is between the ages of 15 and 29. Outside of this, much of our visual media is dominated by images of men. Women become increasingly invisible as they age – in and outside of the media. They must contend with the double-edged sword that is ageism and sexism. In the public eye, ageing women begin to be forgotten, but the opposite is true for men. For women, they must remain ‘beautiful’ and youthful in order to remain relevant. Remember the sacking of Arlene Phillips from Strictly Come Dancing and Miriam O’Reilly from Country File? The BBC felt they needed to “refresh” the shows, in other words, their female presenters were too old and needed replacing by younger counterparts. Why is it that we so frequently see older man-younger woman pairings in TV presenter roles? Apparently, a woman’s power is her youth.

The patriarchal, ageist society we exist in forces women to fight for visual presence and acknowledgement – something that is often handed to men for free. Women encounter and are trapped in a catch-22 when they reach mid-life: when the news media surrounding ageing is positive (increasing from its non-existent state), its circulation is problematic because it celebrates the idea of being ‘ageless’. This ‘successful ageing’ narrative places unrealistic, demanding pressures on women as they grow older to deny or defy the natural ageing process.

This project has been long in the making. A quote I saw on social media a couple of years ago really struck me, and once I started thinking about it, I noticed it everywhere: “It’s not that women don’t age well, it’s that women aren’t allowed to age”. It got me thinking about why this was, why we weren’t talking about it. 50 Fifty is a collection of portraits of women, all in their 50s, talking about their experience of ageing, the menopause, and all things from raising children, role models, life advice and battles with cancer.

Shot very simply against a white paper backdrop, each portrait was taken over a period of 8 weeks as the UK emerged from a third national lockdown.

We must continue to fight for the exposure and visibility of mid-life women, normalise this time in their lives, and celebrate diversity.