This is the only time I have been photographed naked. So why did I opt to do this? Maybe because no one had ever asked before. Maybe to look at what six decades of use and abuse looks like in my case. Definitely to join in on this great, joyous fleshy statement about being alive.” Credit: Ponch Hawkes

The program was so named after a quote from the famous Magnum agency photographer Eve Arnold, who wrote about photographing actress Joan Crawford in New York in the 1950s: “There she was nude – but sadly, something happens to flesh after 50.” As I was taking off my clothes in the studio I felt uncomfortable, but I wanted to stand strong and proud with the other women. With the launch of the exhibition, we will explore our diversity, share ideas about identity and sense of ageing self, and how and why we now value our bodies.” Credit: Ponch Hawkes Hawkes hit on this surprising corner of the internet when she was commissioned to take 500 portraits of women over the age of 50 – an act she didn’t recognise as radical until she realised how few such images existed. For a society preoccupied with the female body, interest drops off precipitously after 50. “For every woman, it’s on your mind, the question of body image and body hatred, and there isn’t any material about that for older women.”

A Family In Fancy Dress, 1880-1900

I grew up with a sense of shame about my physical appearance. Now I am honouring it, appreciating it, taking care of it. Immersion in a dance and movement practice has finally enabled me to land in my skin.” Credit: Ponch Hawkes With the help of my mommy friends, I created this little intimate photography project just in time for Mother’s day, to remind everyone what motherhood really looks like. Some might find these interesting pictures raw, but that's how it is in real life. Women were invited to bring a prop to pose with, and each was given the option of having her face obscured.

Set in the broader Flesh After Fifty program, the idea for Hawkes’ exhibition, 500 Strong, was to take nude portraits of 500 women. The final count ended up at about 420 after the project took longer than expected and the budget ran out. With life this pleasant, it's no wonder that nobody was smiling in the creepy pictures taken in the Victorian era. Everybody looks so severe that it seems as if people in the 1800s just didn't have the time, or strength to have fun. But as these rare vintage photos prove, that wasn't always the case.

When photographer Ponch Hawkes went looking for images of naked older women on the internet, she found acres of blank space, then a rich vein of what’s termed “granny porn”.

The women who seemed very relaxed talked about how nudity was not an issue in their house when growing up,” Hawkes observes. “Some other women said they hadn’t taken their clothes off in front of anyone for a long time.” The whole panorama, from the 50s onwards – there wasn’t anything,” she says. “The odd life model. You are more likely to find a drawing. Then you look more, and you find 500,000 images of ‘Young man f…ing old woman’.”