Ana Gallardo: Escuela de Envejecer

In her practice as an artist, Ana Gallardo seeks to unravel personal histories that reveal wider social issues. For many years she has devoted herself to establishing bonds of friendship, solidarity and a sense of community among senior citizens, developing several bodies of work such as “Un lugar para vivir cuando seamos viejos” (A Place to Live When We Are Old) (2010), “Acciones Primarias” (Primary Actions) (2014), and more recently “School of Aging” (2016-ongoing). In this series of works, Gallardo approaches the proximity of death, aging, and solitude by collaborating with senior citizens in different parts of the world. While in many non-Western societies elders occupy a relevant position, the alienation of modern life has relegated them to a plane of invisibility. For Gallardo, this situation of oblivion is a form of violence that can be counteracted through identification and the creation of affective structures.