About the Project

Picture Yourself is a groundbreaking initiative that aims to transform how older Australians are visually represented in our media landscape. Current imagery often reinforces stereotypes and lacks diversity in gender, ability, race, and ethnicity. Our project directly addresses these inequities by co-creating a national library of age-positive images that celebrate the diversity and richness of older Australian lives.

Led by Dr. Tricia King from the University of the Sunshine Coast, funded by Creative Australia and in partnership with the Australian Association of Gerontology (AAG) and Comlink Australia, this project will create a free, publicly accessible image library that authentically represents older Australians from all walks of life.

Why This Matters

Images are powerful, and representation matters. Research shows that stereotypical images of older people as frail or dependent can negatively impact:

The cognitive, physical, and psychosocial wellbeing of older adults
How younger people perceive ageing
Society's attitudes toward older Australians

The Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety highlighted the urgent need to give visibility and voice to older Australians. Picture Yourself responds to this call by creating images that showcase the diversity, strength, and dignity of older people across Australia.

How You Can Participate

We're looking for participants to help shape and create this important resource:

For Older Australians

Be photographed: Share your story and become part of our age-positive image library
Join our focus groups: Help us understand what positive images of ageing look like to you
Participate in interviews: Share your perspectives on representation and visibility

For Older Photographers

Create images: Work collaboratively with older participants to capture authentic, positive representations
Attend workshops: Learn about age-positive imagery and how to create it
Contribute to our library: Your work will be featured in a national resource with appropriate attribution

Our Inclusive Approach

This project follows a co-design process grounded in reciprocity and kindness. We are committed to:

Extensive consultation with older stakeholders
Compassionate representation of all participants
Actively employing older photographers to create the images
Creating accessible content with stories in both text and audio formats
Representing the full diversity of Australian older people, including First Nations older adults, people from rural and regional areas, people with differing abilities, people living with dementia, caregivers, and the care workforce