Faces of a century

Czech photographer Jan Langer created portraits of centenarians in the same poses of photos taken when they were young.

“To my surprise, I didn’t need to put people into a certain mood or atmosphere to evoke their previous look,” Langer says. “Apparently there’s something in a person that stays the same through the years. I think a lot about what that means, what conclusions you can draw as a viewer. Actually, I am still unraveling that.

Because, naturally, people change with the passing of time. They have more life experience, are sometimes humble or just tired out. They can feel satisfied or complete, but also disappointed. They find their life valuable or worthless. Because of these insights, their personality also changes in some way. But there is always something that makes them unique, something that also stays the same. You can see that at a glance in older faces, combined with the memories that remain in a hundred-year-old spirit.”