10:00am-5:00pm on Sunday 3 April
Times shown are in GMT (UTC +0) up to the 26th March. For events on or after 27th March times are in BST (UTC +1).
The Pitt Building, Oriel Room, Trumpington Street, CB2 1RP
Ageing populations across the globe present public health challenges. Global planning for ageing is an urgent priority but is complex and requires robust data. In sub-Saharan Africa, the demographics, health concerns and self-perception of people in older populations are not well understood. Knowledge on healthy ageing is available from high income countries (HICs) but needs to be understood and strengthened in the complex demographic, social, medical, economic and cultural contexts of low and middle income countries (LMICs). Even in relatively well studied HIC populations with substantial available data, debate exists about whether additional years lived are spent in poor health, or whether we are staying healthier longer as we live longer.
This issue is compounded in some LMICs as they lack good registration data and many people do not know their chronological age. To design strategies and interventions to optimise health of older people, we need to understand what healthy ageing looks like within the population they come from. Arts have been shown to have a benefit on older people at an individual mental and physical health level, but also at a community and societal level.
Traditionally art in Africa has been a necessary part of everyday life, connected to religion, government, education, work and entertainment. In 2019 University of Cambridge, in collaboration with The Ugandan Academy for Health Innovation, based at the Infectious Diseases Institute in Makerere University, conducted a multidisciplinary study to understand ageing in Uganda. The study has combined science and artistic methods in order to understand the picture of Ageing in Wakiso District, Busukuma Division.
This exhibition showcases the artwork produced by established artists and older persons during the course of the project. The artworks are an expression of the perception of ageing in this community."
We are also hosting a panel discussion which will address the lessons learned through the Pictures of Ageing project in Uganda and how these findings might help inform more engaged research practices in the future as well as multidisciplinary approaches, and incorporating art and craft into academic research.
