Picture a World by Cassandra Masters
Picture This: A neighborhood where generations don’t just coexist, they connect. Go ahead. Say hello. See where it takes you.
In 2025, Age-Friendly Greater Pittsburgh partnered with several local organizations to create and install photo activations throughout the region that infuse vibrant photography and artistic elements with meaningful opportunities for reflection with one another. In a time of growing isolation, polarization, and digitalization, Picture This offers an opportunity to ditch our devices, forego stereotypes about people outside our age group, and simply connect.
Age-Friendly Greater Pittsburgh is dedicated to making our region a better place to grow old. We believe intergenerational connection is the key to addressing ageism (how we think, feel, and act towards others and towards ourselves based on age). Picture This was conceived as an effort to combat ageism and isolation, which harm our health and limit our potential. The centerpiece of the campaign is the Age-Inclusive Photo Bank, a collection of 150 photos taken across four counties by Pittsburgh photographers, such as Martha Rial, Nate Smallwood, Ishara Henry, and Larry Rippel. These images highlight the vibrancy of aging in community, alongside our neighbors and loved ones, and all that is possible when we connect. In a time of widespread (and often unwanted) “AI-ification” of the arts and our everyday lives, these photographs offer an alternative: real people, in real life, captured by real, local artists.
The Photo Bank was designed with communicators in mind, and the images are available for free download to use in articles, flyers, presentations, and more. Design consultants at Dezudio made sure it’s a user-friendly tool!
Photo by Nate Smallwood
Photo by Sean Carroll
The photographs got their first boost through our partnership with The Art Supply Co., plus the marketing and branding expertise of Workhorse Collaborative. In 2025, photographs were installed in street-level windows in the Age-Friendly Neighborhoods of McKeesport, Beechview, and Sharpsburg. The Beechview installation on the windows of the Healthy Active Living Center brought multiple new visitors into the senior center. That’s the power of public art!
These installations were coupled with Age-Friendly Block Parties to celebrate the spirit captured in the photographs. A traveling “connection bench,” designed by Maia Leppo with Safran Everyday, encouraged people to take a seat and make a connection. The bench was also a staging area to capture audio stories of residents reflecting on aging and community connection. These stories were recorded and produced by Kristin Vermilya.
Photo by Hannah Colen
In Fall 2025, Age-Friendly and Casey Droege Cultural Productions took the photographs to a bigger stage: the August Wilson African American Cultural Center. Coupled with fifteen photographs displayed among colorful shapes and slogans (like “Say hello” and “See where it takes you”) was a fan favorite: our “Get Nebby” corner. Visitors were encouraged to pick up bright blue retro telephones (transformed by Projectile Objects) and listen to the resident stories collected at our Block Parties. Kids as young as three years old tuned in to listen to neighbors like 85-year-old Jammia from McKeesport and 19-year-old Remy from Burgettstown.
The Picture This exhibition ran from November 8, 2025 to February 1, 2026, with several accompanying programs, including a panel discussion, moderated by Age-Friendly’s own Randi Vega, with artists John Peña and JunYetta Seale, who discussed how they infuse intergenerational themes into their work. We are grateful to the August Wilson African American Cultural Center for their collaboration and their vast contributions to arts and culture in Pittsburgh.
The Age-Inclusive Photo Bank continues to expand, with plans to add at least 50 more photos in 2026. The exhibition was also designed to travel; Picture This is now popping up at community hubs across the region. Reach out to Age-Friendly to learn more about bringing the exhibition to your space!
Picture This prioritizes connection–especially across ages–as an antidote to growing isolation and division in our communities. At its core, the project highlights what makes the Pittsburgh region special: collaboration. (I know, everyone always says that, but it’s true!) The project would not have been the success it was without the vibrant, collaborative network of artists, arts producers, and community partners who contributed. It’s about time we see a serious, sustained investment in the people and work that makes Pittsburgh the arts hub that it is.
Age-Friendly Greater Pittsburgh is dedicated to making the region more inclusive and respectful of all ages. We are an initiative by Southwestern Pennsylvania Partnership for Aging and Pitt School of Social Work. “Picture This” was supported by the Henry L. Hillman Foundation and the Pittsburgh Downtown Partnership’s Placemaking Grant by Citizens Bank.