Hidden Depths - Celebration Event

Chester Cathedral will host Hidden Depths, an exhibition by photographer Laura Page.

The exhibition features over 30 portraits of older people in the UK, illustrating the rich and interesting lives they lead.  

In sharing these images, Laura aims to challenge ageist stereotypes and break  down some of the barriers that contribute to age segregation in the UK.

The idea for the project came to Laura when she was working with older people  in care homes.

“Once you spent time chatting with people you heard the most  amazing life stories and saw all the humour, soul and individuality of a  person,” says Laura (46). “I also saw how easy it is to fall into that lazy attitude  that older people are 'past it', and started to think about what I could do to  show that’s not the case.” 

In 2020, she won the Rebecca Vassie Memorial Award to support the making  of the work, with the added challenge of navigating the emerging pandemic.

“I  had to shoot from doors and windows, which changed how I was able to  photograph. I focussed on capturing one powerful portrait of each person instead of lots of candid pictures.” But Laura believes the months of lockdown helped the project in other ways, adding: “It meant people were really keen to  connect and share their stories, and I had lots of time to really get to know the people I was photographing over email.” 

Some of the photographs were spotted by the BBC and published on their  website, opening the floodgates to over 450 messages from older people  wanting to get involved in the project. Choosing from them was difficult and  Laura admits she ended up doing far more shoots than originally planned. 

Among those she photographed are 83-year-old fashionista Jean Woods,  whose cutting-edge street style has amassed her almost 20,000 followers on  Instagram. Her posts on the platform regularly receive hundreds of comments  praising her chic style and inspirational attitude to ageing. Jean is joined in the  exhibition by 30 other similarly-inspiring characters, including 72-year-old  bodybuilder Lloyd Stewart and prolific artist Glenys Cour, who says she can’t  imagine not being creative at 97: “It’s a terrific excitement, a life blood! To not  do it would be absolute hell.”

This exhibition will include information panels telling  the story of each participant.

Laura is still in touch with all of the people she has photographed for Hidden Depths. Many will be making the journey to Chester to attend the exhibition.

“The UK is one of the most age-segregated countries in the world and I think that causes all of us to miss out  on so much. There's so much to share and learn from each other,” she says when asked what the project means for her. “I think it's time to start boldly  reimagining how older age can be.” 

The exhibition opens on 11^th September and entry is free.  

Hidden Depths has been supported by Rebecca Vassie Memorial Trust, Arts Council  England, Chester Cathedral, Yorkshire Artspace and Lab4Living.  

Booking and information:

Exhibition celebration event: Hidden Depths at Chester Cathedral: 

https://chestercathedral.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/shows/1173647618

https://chestercathedral.com/event/hidden-depths/2023-09-11/

Laura Page is an artist, photographer, photojournalist and socially engaged practitioner. Much of her  work explores people, society, politics, culture and philosophy. She works with people of all ages,  backgrounds and abilities. She often works with groups that are marginalised or have little access to  art, aiming to build confidence and strengthen communities. She photographs and writes articles  and reviews for regional, national and international newspapers and magazines. 

Laura has fully qualified in all of the National Council for the Training of Journalists’ (NCTJ)  National Certificate Examination’s in photojournalism. She also has BA Hons and Masters degrees  in philosophy. She is a recipient of the Rebecca Vassie Memorial Award as well as the Trevor Roberts Award for best emerging photographer.  

W: www.laurapage.co.uk

F: @laurapagephotography

I: @laura_page_photography

T: @laurapagephoto