Press
100 Portraits ago Dutch photographer Denise Boomkens (44) started her beautiful journey into aging.
Portraying and interviewing women over 40 she captures their beauty and stories. With her project “AndBloom” she wants to inspire women worldwide with the realness of aging beauty.
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What began, in June 2018, with a portrait of her then 69-year-old mother grew out into a worldwide online community for women over 40 that choose to embrace and love their age.
Today, after portraying a 100 “Bloomers” between the ages of 40 to 91, telling a part of their story, Denise is bringing the aging woman back into the media with the aim to change views and inspire.
A LONG-TERM PROJECT
A LONG-TERM PROJECT &Bloom is a journey into aging, a personal journey and therefore, a long-term project. Denise wants to create awareness for a major problem; the current view of society on aging. Denise: “I am getting older every day, together with a lot of other women that I portray”.
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Originated from a curiosity for other women’s life experiences, attitude towards aging, and a lack of cool media inspiration for women her age, Denise started her search. Why are women over 40, 50, 60 and older less seen in the media then young(er) women? Why does aging have such a negative reputation? Why does everyone want to stay and look young, while we are all aware of the fact that staying young forever is an impossible wish?
A tiny drop in the river of time
With each portrait, Denise wants to share a piece of a personal story, whether it is her story or that of a woman she photographed. Denise: “I believe that stories create empathy and empathy is the most revolutionary emotion. I feel that with every portrait, I capture a beautiful woman forever. The timeless proof of ageless beauty, inside and out”. Growing older we are getting more aware of our place in the big picture.
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We are just a tiny drop in the river of time. And while we are here, in the here and now, we should enjoy growing older and wiser without constantly being reminded that our appearance no longer meets society’s expectations. Sharing the journey of aging together with many other women from all over the world, who all go through the same stage of life, or have gone through already and tell openly about it, that is a true-to-life inspiration.
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A rapidly growing community and a growing demand for realness
“Every woman is unique in her own beautiful way, with her own unique story and traces of life. It puzzles me why older, natural aging women are so little represented in the media. Having all sorts of women over the age of 40 in front of my lens on such a frequent basis, I often wonder why they aren’t used for beauty and fashion campaigns. As if you can’t create fashionable, extravagant, modern looks with older women? How fabulous would it be to see more real aging models in the monthly fashion magazines, in beauty campaigns and on television? Natural aging women over 40 shown in a cool, fashionable and modern way?
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It has gradually become clear to me that today’s modern 40+ women no longer want to see media images of people in their twenties or thirties that they cannot identify with. And no this is not about disapproval, this is purely about identifying with women of your own age.“ #REALNESS
Self-love and body positivity
Why it’s so important to love yourself, especially for women over 40 that are coping with self-conscious aging in a time where every wrinkle is seen as failure. Many women experience a feeling of becoming “invisible when they get older”.
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Why women are increasingly treated as if they’re invisible as they age (apparently it applies more to women than to men) is not very surprising. We live in a youth-fixated culture where people are afraid to age and to be vulnerable to growing older; where ideals about attractiveness are oriented around those with young, flawless and healthy bodies.
In a world obsessed with perfection, I choose to be myself
self-love on social media meaning “You have to love yourself more”. In daily conversation with our friends we ask them “Why don’t you love yourself?” And “If you only loved yourself, this wouldn’t have happened to you” is a common answer to many problems.
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Why women are increasingly treated as if they’re invisible as they age (apparently it applies more to women than to men) is not very surprising. We live in a youth-fixated culture where people are afraid to age and to be vulnerable to growing older; where ideals about attractiveness are oriented around those with young, flawless and healthy bodies.
We are here to change views and inspire
Looking at the women that color my life, I hear a lot of complaining and moaning about their (first) signs of aging. In my eyes, all beautiful women. I love to grow older amongst them and I do understand and recognize their inner struggles. Comparing ourselves to the often (much) younger women we see in the media, who almost all had “work done” to a certain extent, is a battle long lost. Comparing our own selfies to the perfectly photographed, filtered and/or photoshopped versions of the rich and famous, is pretty useless. Even though most women are aware of the possibilities to enhance a photograph, it can still be confusing as hell.”
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With each portrait, Denise wants to share a piece of a personal story, whether it is her story or that of a woman she photographed. Denise: “I believe that stories create empathy and empathy is the most revolutionary emotion. I feel that with every portrait, I capture a beautiful woman forever. The timeless proof of ageless beauty, inside and out”. Growing older we are getting more aware of our place in the big picture.
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Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Integer nec odio. Praesent libero. Sed cursus ante dapibus diam. Sed nisi. Nulla quis sem at nibh elementum imperdiet.
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