MÉMOIRES DE FEMMES
Paris, UNESCO
March 23-31, 2026
Ph. © Cyril Bailleul. Courtesy Associazione Genesi
Organized by the Permanent Delegation of Italy to UNESCO
in collaboration with Associazione Genesi, Fondazione San Patrignano, Brandart, and Fondation Terre & Fils
Curated by Ilaria Bernardi
The exhibition, hosted at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris, is conceived as a cultural and symbolic contribution to the global reflection on gender equality, in line with the campaigns and policies promoted by the United Nations from the postwar period to the present day. Through the language of contemporary art, the project places at its core the role of women as custodians of individual and collective memory—often erased or marginalized by official historical narratives, traditionally shaped by a male perspective.
The works on display come from the Genesi Collection and the San Patrignano Collection, two institutions that share a strong commitment to human rights, social responsibility, and the transformative power of art.
The exhibited works demonstrate how, across different geographical and historical contexts, women artists have transformed autobiographical experience and private memory into a broader reflection on the female condition, cultural transmission, violence, identity, migration, belonging, and the possibility of emancipation.
The dialogue between historical and contemporary artists, Italian and international, offers a plurality of perspectives spanning generations and cultures, revealing how female memory is not an archive of the past but a living force, capable of shaping the present and orienting the future.
The exhibition thus presents itself as a space of awareness and education, in which art becomes a tool for recognition, listening, and empowerment — reaffirming the fundamental role of women not only as active agents within society, but as guardians of a memory that is indispensable to all of humanity.
Included artists: Louise Nevelson, Agnes Martin, Marisa Merz, Anna Boghiguian, Mona Hatoum, Doris Salcedo, Sabrina Mezzaqui, Monica Bonvicini, Vanessa Beecroft, Rä Di Martino, Shilpa Gupta, Binta Diaw.