Anna Rachenko addresses ageism with her latest project: GRANDmothers

Anna Radchenko is a multidisciplinary artist, whose work can be defined as Surreal Feminism. She enjoys pushing the boundaries with work that encourages us to move beyond our comfort zone and understand we may feel uncomfortable with what we are seeing.

Today she presents us with a project composed of a series of photographs and a short film. With a cast of older models, GRANDmothers approaches the topic of ageism by questioning what would happen if one day we were able to become pregnant much later in life.

Radchenko was mainly inspired by the way women are looked at in Russia once they reach the age of forty. She argues that there is still a strong mentality in which women almost lose value as they get older, whereas men are supposed to improve. GRANDmothers represents a critique of this mindset, while at the same time it reminds us of the progress we have made in being able to make our own choices.

GRANDmothers works with an aesthetic of opposition. From the styling and make-up to the production design and choice of location, we are invited to reconsider what we find pretty and youthful. With a strong focus on emerging Russian fashion design talent, such as Outlaw Moscow, Roma Uvarov Design e Fakbyfak, Radchenko argues that how we decide to present ourselves shouldn’t be defined by our age.

The project represents a continuation of her work on ageism, which she started in 2017 with the fashion film Silver Goddesses. Tackling this important issue, Radchenko is inviting us to embrace getting older with no shame and plenty of fun.