Branson School student Rayna Xu, Fairfax artist Greg Brown and Kentfield artist Mary Buttaro spent several Tuesday nights working on a painting.

Each applied acrylic paints to depict two strangers who ignore each other in a park. In the foreground is a teenage skateboarder with his back turned against an older man on a bench in the bright sun.

The artists finished their work last month and called it, “Two Worlds in the Park.” They sought to show how ageism — prejudice based upon age — can divide generations.

“They’re in the same scene and they’re super close to each other, but there is no eye contact,” Xu said. “They’re in two different worlds, despite they’re in the same park.”

The collaborators are among 24 teenage and older artists in Marin County who teamed to create works for “What About Age?,” a show at the Marin County Civic Center from Monday through May 6.

The project, organized by nonprofit Youth in Arts and the Marin Cultural Association, seeks to motivate viewers to consider ageism and how stereotypes of young and older people can affect society at large. The participants were connected at workshops held at the Youth in Arts center in San Rafael in the fall.

“I hope viewers will think about the stereotypes around aging and reflect on their own experiences,” said Cathy Bowman, a coordinator for Youth in Arts. “This exhibit gives us all a lot to think about.”

San Rafael Councilmember Rachel Kertz saw comic book-like illustrations for the original “What About Age?” project when she walked through Greenwich Village in New York City. Staff members at New York University produced the project to show how ageism can do harm.

“What struck me was that this was the first time I had really thought about ageism as its own issue,” she said. “The exhibit made ageism visible in a way that felt honest, accessible and deeply human. It didn’t feel academic or abstract — it felt real.”

Kertz contacted the show organizers and proposed bringing the exhibit to Marin.

“I hope people leave the Marin show thinking differently — not just about older adults, but about aging itself,” she said.

Stacey Gordon curated the original project. She is the associate executive director of older adult services at Queens Community House, and a fellow at the New York University Center for Health and Aging Innovation.

To read more or listen online, visit the Marin IJ.