Beauty

Age is just a number: touching new photo series shows the beauty of women over 100

Posted by
Sarah Biddlecombe
Published

In case we needed any convincing* that women over the age of 100 are just as awesome as anyone else, photographer Karsten Thormaehlen’s beautiful new portraits of centenarians should do the trick.

The German photographer traveled across the world to meet women and men over the age of 100 and capture joyful images of centenarians living – and thriving – everywhere from Japan to New York and Munich.

Here you can see a selection of 10 portraits of gloriously mischievous women, who feature alongside 42 other women and men in Thormaehlen’s touching new photobook, Aging Gracefully, published by Chronicle Books on 7 March.

Simply scroll through to get started.

*we didn’t.

  • Kiyo Aragai, 102

    Born September 10, 1914, in Asahikawa, Hokkaido, Japan.

  • Betty Markoff, 100

    Born August 26, 1916, in Toronto, Canada.

  • María Teresa Bolivar Vda De Lercari, 103

    Born July 4, 1913, in Lima, Peru.

  • Olivia Hooker, 101

    Born February 12, 1915, in Muskogee, Oklahoma.

  • Paula Klambauer, 104

    Born April 19, 1912, in Wels, Austria.

  • Evelyn Zehring, 102

    Born September 21, 1914, in Fairfield, Montana. 

  • Miyagui Kami, 100

    Born August 25, 1916, in Ōgimi, Japan.

  • Maria Luisa Medina, 103

    Born April 8, 1913, in Loja, Ecuador.

  • Kimiyo Sato, 104

    Born October 28, 1912, in Nagasaki, Japan.

  • Gisele Casadesus, 102

    Born June 14, 1914, in Paris, France.