Fondazione Bracco is supporting an exhibition (free admission) in Rome from 13 July to 10 September 2023 at the Carlo Bilotti Museum with the title Ritratte. Donne di arte e di scienza (Portrayed. Women of Art and Science). The exhibition celebrates the faces, careers and talents of Italian women who have become leading lights in the worlds of science and culture. Promoted by Roma Capitale, Department of Culture and the Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali [the Office for the Preservation and Protection of the Cultural Heritage of Rome], it is curated by the Foundation, Arthemisia and Zetema Progetto Cultura, a museum services company owned by the city council.
The exhibition consists of portraits shot by the renowned photographer Gerald Bruneau of 40 professional women who have reached top positions in their fields. The photographs show women who are in charge of important Italian cultural institutions and leading Italian women scientists. We live at a time that invites us to further the cause of gender equality by renouncing stereotypes about women that have impeded their growth as individuals and members of society, by encouraging changes in the language we use, and by propagating and celebrating female role models. Ritratte. Donne di arte e di scienza (Portrayed. Women of Art and Science) offers us another way of doing this.
Also portrayed here in the faces of the women is an ideal union between artistic and scientific knowledge. The exhibition journeys from places of art to scientific laboratories, and the story it tells is of women who stand for inclusive and inspiring models of governance, and who are themselves paragons of leadership excellence.
The photographic portraits include some faces from a larger project called #100esperte (100esperte.it), an online database of the names and details of 100 highly qualified and gifted women STEM professionals. The joint brainchild of Osservatorio di Pavia and Gi.U.Li.A. and developed by Fondazione Bracco with support from the European Commission, the online database serves to increase the visibility of women experts in strategic sectors, especially in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) where women are still under-represented.
The exemplary power of these life stories cannot be overstated. A second virtual exhibition has been derived from the exhibition’s portraits of the women directors of Italian museums and can be visited via the "Art4ART” platform run by the Gemelli ART (Advanced Radiation Therapy) Oncological Radiotherapy Centre of the A. Gemelli University Hospital, IRCCS [an accredited institute of medical research]. Gemelli ART, in collaboration with Associazione Romanini is offering patients the change to enjoy art while receiving ontological treatment. There is scientific evidence to the effect that art, in the broadest sense of the term, helps create a more pleasant environment for patients that reduces their stress and thus improves the efficiency of treatment.
