These are images you don’t see often. Black and white shots magnifying wrinkled skin, wrinkled eyes and bleached hair. Even when it comes to promoting retirement plans, stairlifts or erection-enhancing pills, advertisers choose models as young as 50 for their posters. The pictures taken by Arianne Clement are far, far away from that. Based in Quebec where she was born, the artist specializes in photographing seniors. For about ten years, she has traveled the world to meet our elders to draw the portrait of their drawn features. An idea that germinated in her mind when she saw her grandmother forbid her to photograph her “because she felt ugly as she grew older”.
Over the course of her meetings, Arianne Clément had the idea of pushing her work a little further by highlighting the still active sexuality of seniors. A taboo subject which is the subject of an exhibition of his series “In body, in life” which starts in Rennes. The occasion, too, for a coffee-debate this Wednesday evening around the theme of the intimate and sexual life of the elderly. An interview conducted in the purest Quebec accent.
You say that it was your grandmother who inspired you to choose to photograph the elderly. For what ?
Because she hated being photographed! When we were with the family, she forbade us to take her picture. She always told us that if we took a picture of her, she would break our camera. So I don’t have any pictures of my grandmother and it saddens me. On reflection, I think she felt ugly as she got older. She didn’t want to see it or show it. It’s a joke I often hear now when I take pictures. They tell me: I’m going to break your camera! But there are often bursts of laughter, jokes, grimaces. There is a childish side. This is what I want to show: to fight against ageism and the usual representation that we have of our elders.
Is that why you chose to focus on their sexuality?
I want to get out of the image of the grandmother who knits. Our elders have a sexuality, an intimate life, political opinions, cultural activities but we do not hear them. The series on sexuality was born out of a meeting with Marie-Berthe when I was working on centenarians. She was 102 years old and she was very comfortable in front of me. She felt beautiful, she was magnificent despite the marks of time. She was very flirtatious, she gave herself thoroughly. It was like photographing Marilyn Monroe!
You didn’t have too much trouble convincing models to pose?
At first yes. I couldn’t find anyone so I asked a friend and her husband if I could take naughty photos. Christine was 87 years old, her husband was 101 years old. She was a little hesitant at first and she finally accepted. We see them both lying down, we see their bodies. I posted the photo on my social networks and she been shared hundreds of thousands of times. I did not expect that. I took advantage of this photo to launch a call for volunteers. I received many messages from women from Quebec but also from France and Belgium. I couldn’t see everyone but I felt confidence. People could see that my work was delicate. It’s not obscenity or pornography. I just want to show that it’s not because we get older that we no longer have desire or sexuality.
Do you feel that mentalities are changing?
That of the elders yes. There is a real difference with baby boomers. The generation before in Quebec, they are called “the silent generation”. It was a more modest life. With my grandmother, we never broached the question of sexuality. Baby boomers are different. They experienced the sexual revolution, the feminist revolution. They revolutionized society.
You have traveled to “blue zones” of the world where people live longer. What are their commonalities?
I went to five areas where life expectancy is higher. In Italy, Costa Rica, Greece, Japan and California. Often, it was in peasant families who fed on local and unprocessed products. People were working hard but they were outside and moving.
What is universal is the social safety net, which was always very strong. These people had friends, family, loved ones. They weren’t alone. That’s what keeps them alive. In Quebec, the Covid has revealed tragedies. We saw that we did not have enough resources and staff to take care of our seniors. We have also seen people die in solitude. My grandfather died at that time. He died alone, because everyone was confined. My work reminds us that we must show solidarity with the elderly.