Youthful perfection isn’t everything, says Dame Harriet

The actress, whose career has taken her from the Royal Shakespeare Company to the West End and Broadway, has been collecting images of older women whose faces and lives have either inspired or moved her. Needless to say, there’s not a skinny supermodel among them.

Instead, the portraits feature the likes of Judi Dench, Mary Quant, Elizabeth Frink and Bianca Jagger and the collection is now on display at the gallery of Scarborough’s Stephen Joseph Theatre.

“Young girls and women are conditioned to aspire to look like other people,” says Dame Harriet, whose films include Bright Young Things, Atonement and The Young Victoria. “From an early age we leaf through magazines measuring ourselves up against airbrushed images of a fairly narrow standard of female perfection. The habit of aspiration dies hard and as I hit my 50s I wanted some role models to help me move to the next stage of life.

“I could find few, if any, photographic images of women my age to emulate. There were plenty of images of youthful perfection, but I didn’t want to be young any more, I wanted to be the age I am.”

Alongside the famous faces, the exhibition also includes photographs of those not used to the spotlight.

“I wanted to show firstly that we are all in it together,” says Dame Harriet. “But also the infinite variety of older women in society.”

Facing It – Reflections On Images of Older Women runs at the SJT gallery until September 3. Dame Harriet will be at the Scarborough venue to talk about her career and the exhibition on August 27. For further details call 01723 370541.