No age. Just number.

Society often views age as a disease. Youth-obsessed society cannot see the personality of seniors behind their exterior. This unusual exhibition challenges perceptions by tackling age discrimination.

In a study to identify what hinders the integration (recruitment, socialisation, etc.) of older people, it was revealed that it is appearance. In society, old age is perceived as a disease or defect. A society obsessed with the cult of youth sees only the age of the elderly, the wrinkles, without seeing the personality and life experience behind the visual image. As a result, seniors are not offered jobs, while there are functions they can perform, and are often ignored socially. Rejecting seniors as an unwanted part of society promotes age discrimination, loneliness and social exclusion, without realising that unless the attitude changes, the current younger and middle generations will eventually face the same treatment.
The exhibition aimed to change the public perception of older people in an unusually light-hearted way, emphasizing that appearance is irrelevant—whether someone looks like a janitor or a fashion icon, their value, life experience, and contributions remain unchanged.

We created an innovative art exhibition where the models were ordinary people – a janitor, a tram driver, a cleaner. Each of them was presented as a fashion icon rather than a person at the other end of life. Simultaneously, a photograph was published of them in their usual look, emphasising that whether a person looks like a fashion diva or a janitor, the value does not change. Taking the facts of the lives of these seniors, of which there are 395 000 in Latvia, as a basis, stories were written about each of the heroes – poignant, harsh, but full of hope, proving that despite countless oncology procedures, the loss of children, the violence experienced, life can start again even in the eighties. Stories that serve as inspiration for the younger generation – if they can, so can I.
The campaign targeted 3 generations, inviting the children and grandchildren of seniors to get involved. The social project, an art exhibition, was carried out with a budget of 0.