2022 Project

Untold Stories of Aging in Art

About this project

Untold Stories is an arts-based community-action project, seeking to illuminate the experiences of older adults through conversation, collaboration, art, and advocacy. Our goal is to solicit arts-based submissions of any form that capture stories of aging, later life, and intergenerational (dis)connection and we encourage artists to engage in conversation and collaboration with an older adult(s) who have played some role in shaping the artist’s life. The purpose of this storytelling is to cultivate a space for older adults to share aspects of the aging experience that are not typically discussed in legible spaces and terms, so that we all might be better informed, prepared, and inspired for our own aging futures. The project began with a live exhibition of submitted artwork in the Spring of 2022 and continues as a digital exhibition that artists contribute to on an ongoing basis.

The Untold Stories Virtual Gallery displays all artwork shared at the Untold Stories 2022 Live Exhibition as well as pieces submitted individually.

April 16, 2022 Event

The Untold Stories Exhibition was hosted at the KU Commons and catered by the Uplift Coffee food truck. The live exhibition featured over 30 submitted art pieces – poems, photography, digital media, sculptures, collages, coloring books and more - and was attended by over 130 community members of all ages.

After the event, the art submissions were photographed and compiled into the Untold Stories Virtual Gallery which will continue accepting submissions over the next several years.

“We don’t need to fear aging. In fact, we should be figuring out how to embrace it.”

- Exhibition Attendee

A group photo of Olivia Sabal, Sarah Jen, Kamri Wolverton and Tobi Barta

Thank You

We were so grateful to see our communities come together to share, discuss, and celebrate diverse visions of what aging can look like and what later life has in store.

- Olivia Sabal, Dr. Sarah Jen, Kamri Wolverton, and Tobi Barta