The Youth of Old Age The Youth of Old Age explores the challenges and joys of aging through images created using experimental photographic techniques. Every image starts as a meditation that calls for a specific alternative process to create the print. Each technique complements the concept of the image. Lumen prints manifest meditation-gained enlightenment. cyanotypes indicate slow development of ideas, contact transfers are best to express misplacement, banishing shows hard labor, chlorophyll prints complement natural changes that come with age, anthotypes communicate the evanescence of life and skin transfer process allows the embrace of new possibilities. Victor Hugo said that fifty is the youth of old age. As I turn 50, I am turning the lens of my camera on myself for the first time, forcing me to face internal and external questions about my identity and life purpose. Even before the age of fifty I experienced identity issues and age discrimination. It is devastating to be dismissed because of age, something you can’t control. I have talked to a lot of people and done research and know that this is a widespread phenomenon worldwide. This work explores the deeply felt pain and the joy and internal growth of aging. My project aims to show that age is just a number. I want to change the way society looks at those who are over fifty. 01 Anthotype 02 Toned cyanotype 03 Chlorophyll print 04 Lumen print 05 Matte medium skin transfer 06 Alcohol transfer 07 Citrasolv transfer 08 Distressed canvas transfer

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About

Natalia L Rudychev is an award-winning Russian-born New York based photographer and multidisciplinary artist (writer, performer, print maker). She is best known for her work with the aesthetics of wabi-sabi. Natalia’s work has been exhibited in New York at Foley Gallery, Soho Photo Gallery, Culture Lab LIC, Westbeth Art Gallery, Cargo Project Gallery, as well as in Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Portland and internationally in Berlin, Glasgow and Tokyo where her work on sustainability was awarded the Bronze award. Her work is in the public collections of the California State Library, Haiku Literature Museum in Japan and Duquesne University Library. Her haiku photobooks have been awarded. She is a member of The Photo Group, a poet, a dancer, and studied Philosophy of Art in the PHD program at Duquesne University.

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