Seinama

Seinama is a response to the context of ageing in the 21st century, which takes an approach to enhance future ageing in Brisbane’s metropolitan area. It is to challenge previously held perceptions and stereotypes of ‘growing old’ and ‘being old’, then reassess the concept of ageing. Seinama is derived from the contemporary theoretical framework of ‘active ageing’ as defined by WHO in 2008. Seinama aims to embrace ageing as a time of opportunity instead of the traditional concept as a time of burden, fearfulness, passivity and dependency.

Seinama is the Japanese translation of ‘life and raw’. It is a single character with double meanings. Seinama refers to both of the periods of living as well as natural and unprocessed state of things, which is similar to the concept of ageing. Life and raw, one refers to the ordinary, and the other refers to the unconventional. Together they create the power and potential of evolving beyond the boundary of ageing. Seinama inspires to blur the boundaries between spaces by creating transitions in-between. It is to make a journey within the spaces by staging and storytelling.