Lidija Pisker
- City
- Rome
- Country
- Italy
I am a researcher whose work sits at the intersection of ageing, storytelling and participatory art, and who experiments with textile art. I work with older adults, and as I get older myself, I witness everyday ageism around me and within me, which led me to start observing my own ageing and that of others, and to revise how ageing is perceived.
I photograph and sketch my own wrinkles and hand-paint them onto scarves, dresses, napkins, tablecloths and curtains, turning signs of ageing into pattern, line and ornament.
I paint on different types of fabric, each shaping how a design line behaves, whether it flows and softens on silk or sits firm and graphic on cotton. The textiles I choose are tied to the body, the home, care and hospitality. By placing wrinkle motifs on objects usually associated with beauty and self-presentation, I challenge what society considers desirable and worthy of visibility.
Alongside this, I have been developing the #WrinkleCollection, a growing participatory archive of self-portrait photographs, stories, drawings and reflections from people of all ages and backgrounds around the world. I use the photos in my work, so each piece becomes a collective effort. At the same time, the process empowers people to look at themselves, and at their ageing, with curiosity rather than judgement.
In my #WrinkleLabs, participants explore wrinkles, their own and others’, through drawing, storytelling and painting, and transform them into shared, collaborative art. These encounters open conversations about ageing, menopause, body image and ageism, and create space where people of different generations can talk about ageing.
I am based between the Balkans and Italy.
#WrinklesAreBeautiful #DoYouLikeMyWrinkles #WrinkleCollection #WrinkleLabs
Artworks
My own eye wrinkles, photographed and sketched, then translated into a hand-painted sheer curtain. Soft blocks of colour and fine drawn lines, spirals and grids, echo the creases around the eye. The curtain is shown layered over the original photograph, so the skin and the fabric read as one surface.
A friend's photograph of the back of her own hand, shared with the #WrinkleCollection, became the starting point for this hand-painted silk scarf. The fine lines and folds of the skin are carried into the flowing colour of the fabric. Held against the cloth, hand and scarf mirror each other, showing ageing as texture, movement and beauty.
Inspired by the photo of my partner's forehead, this light silk scarf carries playful, hand-drawn shapes and lines in soft yellow, blue and pink. The deep horizontal lines of the forehead, a record of expression and years, sit beside the delicate painted forms. The layered image lets the wrinkles show through the scarf, turning signs of ageing into ornament.
A portrait of my partner's eye, translated into a pair of hand-painted curtains. The fine lines that fall down the fabric are sunbeams: this is how I saw the wrinkles at the corner of his eye, as rays of light spreading outwards. A spiral at the top echoes both the sun and the centre of the eye. Curtains, window and eye blend into one image of looking in and looking out, where signs of ageing become light entering the home.