If you have the creative urge, it seems you’ll keep it all the way up into the golden years. Johanna Wulff’s photo exhibition highlights people to inspire us all.

At the beginning of Johanna Wulff’s photography career over ten years ago, she also worked looking after the elderly, and perhaps naturally she started mixing the two by photographing the people she worked with. The inspiration for her current project, Fortsättarna (The Continuers), came when she went to see Rut och Ragnar, a play starring actor couple Meta Velander and Ingvar Kjellson, then both over 80 years old.

“I’d already been photographing old people in their homes and had this idea to do something related to the workplace. Then it hit me when I was watching the play that I should focus on people in the creative professions. For those people it’s more than just work, so you never really retire.“

Johanna has been working on the project for three years, and to narrow down her scope she settled on an age limit of 80. Her subjects have included many of Sweden’s best known creative retirees – people like the aforementioned actors Meta and Ingvar, fashion designer Gunilla Pontén, ceramicist Lisa Larson and her husband, the painter Gunnar Larson, sculptor Ulla Viotti, jazz pianist Bengt Hallberg, actress Yvonne Lombard and her husband, writer Lennart Hellsing, artist Astrid Munthe de Wolfe, director Per Åhlin, actress Meg Westergren and opera singer Kjerstin Dellert.

“I feel like there’s a pretty negative image about ageing and I wanted to show the more positive sides. The people I’ve photographed are incredibly driven and it’s really inspiring to see people nearing 90 rehearsing six days a week for several hours a day. I don’t even think I would have the energy to do that!”

Fortsättarna will open at Hotel Diplomat (Strandvägen 7C) on November 26 and will run there until January 6 before going on a few months tour around Sweden.

Renowned fashion designer Gunilla Pontén was Sweden’s first teen model and started her career in design in the 1950s, founding her own company in the following decade. She has also worked for famous designer Emilio Pucci in Italy.

Lisa Larson is an internationally renowned ceramicist and designer who started her career with Gustavsberg in the 1950s. When her products became immensely popular in the 1960s she became the company’s main PR personality. In the 1990s she founded *Gustavsberg Ceramic Studio* with a few of her former colleagues and she is still active in producing new designs.

Gunnar Larson has been painting for several decades and has had his work displayed in the National Museum and the Modern Museum among others. His latest exhibition is about to open in Värmlands Museum.

Monica Englund is an internationally renowned photographer best known for her work on childbirth and plants. Her latest exhibition opened in Gothenburg earlier this fall.

Ulla Viotti is a sculptor educated in the UK and at Konstfack in the 1950s. She has done projects and participated in symposiums all over the world for over 50 years, and most recently had a major sculpture exhibited in Korea earlier this year. Her next project will take place in Barcelona next year.

Yvonne Lombard is an actress perhaps best known for her work with Ingmar Bergman in films such as A Lesson in Love. She trained at Dramaten in the late 40s and early 50s and has since 1960 been a member of Stockholms Stadsteatern. She is still very active in the profession and is currently busy rehearsing a new play.

If you have the creative urge, it seems you’ll keep it all the way up into the golden years. Johanna Wulff’s photo exhibition highlights people to inspire us all.