Mark Jenkins for the French Red Cross

Paris

Growing old in a society that desperately tries to stay as young as ideally defined by media, is surely not easy, even less enjoyable. Our everyday lives aren’t designed for elderly people. Their lives are forced to take place parallel; preferably as subtly as possible. Especially those who don’t have financial opportunities to afford nursery, have a rough ride.

The French Red Cross recently started to take a stand against this inadequacy. In order to raise public awareness, the organization joined forces with American artist Mark Jenkins, who makes life-sized hyperrealistic sculptures from tape.

Mark Jenkins took the task to heart and sculpted Solange, a elderly woman embodying the elder generation and its problems. She was placed in the streets of Paris facing a mural that says „Les vieux feraient mieux de rester chez eux“ (Old had better stay at home). The situation demonstrates an awkward confrontation that no passerby could just turn its back on. Quite the contrary: with her vintage leather suitcase unwary put down next to her out of full disbelief, Solange exactly conveys an abandoned, helpless and pitiful feeling.