It’s unusual to see an old person model in a fashion show. Even more uncommon are ones featuring older Black African models.
Perhaps this is why Malik Afegbua, a Nigerian visual artist, attracted so much attention when he uploaded pictures on social media last month of seniors dressed stylishly and colourfully on a runway.
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The photographs, titled “The Elders Series,” accentuate African features and bodies, frequently marginalized in the fashion industry and challenge prejudices about how older people are regarded.
“The inspiration behind (this series) was my mum,” explained Afegbua, 38. “She had a stroke, and I am close to my mum. I just needed an outlet to find a way to express myself and not think about her on a life-support machine. I wanted to think about her in a happy place.”
But what makes the pictures so amazing is that the revolutionary fashion show never ever happened. The pictures appear to be photographs of a real event, but they were all created by artificial intelligence (AI).
