Sharpie Al
Charlotte Alice Overton-Hart, or just Sharpie Al.
Champion of ageing and the old, and the experience and wisdom of older people, inspired by my 92-year-old gran, Nancy.
People are my favourite vintage. Amazing greys.
Search
Find me on...
Posts I like
-
“Rhythm is deep and it touches us in ways that we don’t understand. We know that language used rhythmically has some kind of power to delight, to...
-
CREATIVE IDEASNew and creative ideas happen all the time. By definition they are unique and different. However, with new ideas you never know if...
-
Delicatessen with love – portraits of grandmothers around the world alongside their specialty dishes by Italian photographer Gabrielle...
-
PlayThere are several kinds of love. One is a selfish, mean, grasping, egotistical thing which uses love for self-importance. This is the ugly and...
-
-
“Wherever your life ends, it is all there. The utility of living consists not in the length of days, but in the use of time; a man may have lived...”
-
“Though I am an old man, I am a young gardener”— Thomas Jefferson - To be ever learning is the key to life.
-
Typeverything.com
Verse by Cory Say.
-
Typeverything.com - DelVal Botany Mailer by @danielgblackman.
-
“Literature adds to reality, it does not simply describe it. It enriches the necessary competencies that daily life requires and provides; and in...
Tag Results
63 posts tagged in with the old
I recently discovered the work of Peter Baynton at a workshop about Nutrition & Food Environments of Older Adults run by New Dynamics of Ageing. In addition to his fresh and non-patronising design for Hospital Foodie, a food and nutrition management system intended to be used in hospitals to help combat malnutrition, Peter has made some truly excellent animations about older people, of which Over The Hill is one. A powerful tale against institutional abuse, without exception I would recommend Over The Hill to everyone who works in health and social care. It’s the Belleville Rendez-Vous meets Panorama of the care sector. You’ll see what I mean.
What’s that you say, an older woman making music with household objects? Yup.
Very much looking forward to seeing Grandma Lo-Fi, which is being screened as part of Brighton’s very own CINECITY.
Watch the trailer. At least.
Beautiful, honest photo story by Alejandro Kirchuk about his grandfather Marcos, who cared for his grandmother Monica, in her final years with Alzheimer’s.
Inspirational 91-year-old Iris Apfel: challenging almost everyone’s perception of old age, one outfit at a time. Go Iris!
(An aside: Dazed & Confused missed a trick, surely? Why not The Old Aesthetic)?
I watched Featherhead (2006), a sensitive - and devastatingly sad - short film, at dementia awareness training a few months ago. The film was made by Bridge and Tunnel Productions:
Featherhead is a moving tale of a lifelong love that is tested to the limit. John is forced to watch helplessly as his wife’s Alzheimer’s progresses and he is barely able to cope. Portraying the heart-breaking consequences of this confusing and frustrating disease, John’s emotions become visibly aggressive as he loses control. Arathi, an elderly Asian neighbour sees the situation decaying from across the fence. She must consider the boundary between help and interference, as the tragedy of the situation escalates.
Stunningly filmed by internationally renowned cinematographer, Brian Tufano (DP of Billy Elliot, East is East, and Trainspotting), ‘Featherhead’ leaves you with a unique empathy and a powerful understanding of a subject that is rarely discussed.
The Elders is an independent group of global leaders chaired by Archbishop Desmond Tutu who work together for peace and human rights. They were brought together in 2007 by Nelson Mandela, with a little nudge from Richard Branson and Peter Gabriel.
Elders all over the world are largely unsung superheroes. Let them not be invisible or silent. We need to acknowledge them and listen to what they have to say.
Illustrations by Chris Piascik via The Elders.
Knitted Lives gave 40 women between the ages of 60 and 93 the opportunity to work with Fiona Rutherford and Jenny Burns, textile artists, and writer Carol McGuigan. Over a year the knitters produced a total of 125 three-dimensional knitted objects representing stories from their lives.
“A fantastic experience for older people to contribute their expertise and experiences in a creative, empowering and supportive project.” Fran O’Brien, Quality of Life Partnership.
Or in other words, knitting narrative.
I like it.
As Time Goes By: Thoughts on Well-Being in Later Years is a document produced with older people as co-researchers. It’s a good idea, of course. And by good idea, I really mean it should be common practice.
Jacky is the new (old?) face of American Apparel’s new range, Advanced Style.
Oldsters are the original hipsters.
film,My favourite film of the year so far is a documentary about octogenarian (and older) ping pong champions. Need I say more? Probably not. But here’s more anyway, from the Ping Pong website:
8 players with 703 years between them compete in the World over 80s Table Tennis Championships in Inner Mongolia.
Terry (81) having been given a week to live, gets in sight of winning gold. Inge (89) has used table tennis to train her way out of the dementia ward she committed herself to. Australian legend Dorothy deLow is 100, and finds herself a mega celebrity in this rarefied world and Texan Lisa Modlich, a new-comer at 85 years old, is determined to do whatever it takes to win her first gold. This film is as much about the tenacity of the human spirit as it is a meditation on mortality.
Ping Pong: Never Too Old For Gold.
It was a real privilege to make the closing comments at the New Dynamics of Ageing workshop I attended in December.
In with the old!
This week I discovered Validation Therapy, which seeks to engage meaningfully with people who have advanced dementia. A key principle of the therapy is that each individual’s opinions are:
“acknowledged, respected, heard, and (regardless whether or not the listener actually agrees with the content), they are being treated with genuine respect as a legitimate expression of their feelings, rather than marginalized or dismissed.” (Wikipedia)
In practice this can be an incredibly powerful way to connect with and help people. Naomi Feil’s work with Gladys Wilson - who hadn’t spoken a word in over four years at the time the validation therapy took place - is a particularly moving example.
Sweet memories last forever, even if you can’t see them.
