'68 Hippie Grandmoms Textil-Banner

Textile banner,
60 x 90 cm,
hemmed at the top and bottom,
wooden pole with hanging mechanism

Why does Sashee Schuster depict cheerful, elderly women wearing glasses?

The story behind it: Sashee’s sister Renate was part of the rebellious ’68 generation. Unruly, wild, free, provocative, …

“That was a fascinating generation. She told me about Afghanistan, when women there could move about freely and unhindered on the university campus wearing miniskirts. She spoke of India, with its many gurus and free-thinkers whom she had met, and of strong women with many children by various gurus and hippies.”

That’s right, we’re talking about the ’68ers, who were born in the ’40s and ’50s.

If you imagine now that the ’68ers were still as free, wild and provocative as they used to be, what would they look like?

The hippie generation of back then is now 70 or 80 years old. They have grandchildren, perhaps a terraced house and life insurance policies, and in some cases have adopted all the typical lifestyle habits – dismissed back then as too bourgeois – that, as typical ’68ers, they certainly never imagined they would live by. Welcome to life!

This cheerful, independent, wild, free and provocative ’68 generation was Sashee’s inspiration for using artificial intelligence to generate images that, in her view, represent precisely this generation, and for putting their actual glasses styles on them. Flower Power, Happy Generation, Love, Drugs & Rock ’n’ Roll. Let yourself be swept away! Make Love not War!

„We should learn from the ’68ers. They pulled off the first mega-event, ‘Woodstock’, from scratch – intuitively and without a plan, but with boundless courage and a passion for music. Even though they were often high, they showed us what ‘love, not war’ really means, how to break free from conservative constraints and see the world through colourful eyes.

To all the generations that followed: look at your grandmothers in a new light – they were fiery, independent, rebellious women, with dreams and flowers in their hair. They still are, in spirit and in heart.

Give your hippie grandmums a hug, soak up their spirit, carry it forward and hold on to it.”