If we want to know what kind  of image the others have about us, we should ask them and listen carefully to their answers, which will be like a reflection of ourselves in different mirrors. An analysis of these “reflections” can show us that the image the others perceive about us is different from the one we have about ourselves. The perception others have about us is, although it might not be totally to our liking, a gift, since if we did not have this feedback, if nobody noticed us, it would be as if we did not exist and this would be much worse. If you want to know which image you have about a group or a single person, ask them to describe what they see, accept what they present, think about what they expressed and, in case it has nothing to do with “your reality”, ask yourself what you are considering in a wrong way. We are social beings, and as these we need acknowledgement, feel ourselves part of the society, comment and being commented on. We have a psychological need of giving and being useful, as well as observing the results of our own actions.

This exhibition intends to be a mirror in which we all see ourselves, the elderly and the young, those who form the 21st century society and contribute to eliminate stereotypes and favour the “dialogue between the generations”. This intergenerational dialogue was initiated in October 2009, in the year of the 10th anniversary of the Permanent University of the University of Alicante at the beginning of the academic year, and constitutes one of the activities of the Observatory Seniors and the Mass Media of the Permanent University, which has since its beginning in 2007 as its aim to approach the different social realities of the elderly, as well as their needs of acknowledgement and integration, to the university community and to the whole society.  

The exhibition starts analysing HOW THE OTHERS SEE US , the elderly, and for this purpose we turn to two great drawing and comic artists: Joan Subirana Queralt, with its work “PENSIONERS IN ACTION” and to Enrique Pérez Penedo, with a compilation of his work called “ENRIQUE AND THE ELDERLY PERSONS”. The Observatory Seniors and the Mass Media of the Permanent University, coordinated by Irene Ramos, contributes within the section  ANALYSING HOW THEY SEE US AND HOW WE SEE, to highlight in a quantitative and  qualitative way how society sees us through the mass media, by studying the image which is projected concerning the seniors in advertisements and in TV series. By means of a detailed examination the researchers - students of the Observatory – seek to attract attention on habits and tendencies of marketing and the mass media. Another part of the sample, focused on HOW WE SEE OURSELVES contributes a series of snapshots by members of the Writers Association Escritores de Luces (ELUA). In this, the authors present with their Works the other facet of our seniors nowadays and especially at the Permanent University.

The last section, BREAKING STEREOTYPES ABOUT THE ELDERLY, by the creative heads of the Image Department of the University of Alicante Fernando Embid Fernández and Mariló Berenguer Ros, and the protagonists and researchers of the Observatory Seniors and the Mass Media of the Permanent University is a contribution, presented in an audiovisual format, to breaking this image which reflects society and the mass media. In short, it is an invitation to get to know the seniors who participate in the project Permanent University and in general to consolidate a dialogue between the generations which eradicates the social exclusion because of age.