I'm excited to be a part of this exhibition which opens on Sunday, March 8 at Sincresis in Empoli, Italy.
The title of the exhibition is adolescĕre, inspired by the poem by Wisława Szymborska. The project addresses
the theme of adolescence, a time of great change in the life of every woman.
The artists of the Women Visual Artists Database were invited to reflect on this particular period of
their lives, starting from their own experiences or from others', drawing on emotions, memories,
stories. For a girl, adolescence becomes a sudden journey into the adult world, which transforms
her physically and psychologically with her hardly having time to become aware of the change.
The great transformation and vital energy creates new experiences and opportunities as well as a
whole series of positive and negative first times in a girl's life that will remain indelible in her
memory.
Wisława Szymborska's poem reflects the distance between the teenage girl and her adult self, the
gap, the sense of estrangement and remoteness, but also of belonging.
My work for this exhibition focuses on menstruation and the conflicting feelings of being excited about being a woman but also of shame that surrounded my first period.
Adolocenza
Aspettare
Desiderio
Non sapere
Divenire
Adolescence
Waiting
Desiring
Not knowing
Becoming
adolescĕre
curated by Windmill
in collaboration with Sincresis
Women Visual Artists Database
opening
Sunday, March 8th 2026
11 am
Me - a teenager?
If she suddenly stood, here, now, before me, would I need to treat her as near and dear, although she's strange to me, and distant?
Wisława Szymborska
Translated by Clare Cavanagh and Stanislaw Barańczak
The Sincresis association of Empoli hosts the exhibition project proposed by the Rome-based Windmill association, which draws inspiration from the theme of adolescence, a time of great change in every woman's life. Artists from around the world in the Women Visual Artists Database are invited to reflect on this particular period in their lives, starting from their own experiences, drawing on emotions, memories, and experiences. For a girl, adolescence becomes a sudden journey into the adult world, which transforms her physically and psychologically almost before she has time to be aware of it. The great transformation and vital energy that this period brings creates new experiences, new opportunities, and a whole series of firsts, both positive and negative, in a girl's life that will remain indelible in her memory.Wisława Szymborska's poetry reflects the distance between the teenage girl and her adult self, the gap, the sense of estrangement and remoteness, but also of belonging. The invited artists engage with themselves, choosing from their own teenage and older lives the theme and inspiration to create works on paper in vertical A4 format, and accompany their work with a text. The body of works offers a panorama of emotions and memories, of internal conflicts, testimony to the relationship with one's own body that changes in that of a woman. A touching, female story told through images and text, in which people can recognize their own experiences and engage with them.The exhibition project is designed to "travel" to different cities and countries, stimulating discussions, performances, and public engagement, particularly with adolescents. At the end of the exhibition, the works and accompanying texts will be published as an artist's book, which will be donated to a public institution. The book will also be published in digital format, downloadable free of charge from the nonprofit Wind Mill Association website.
COMUNE DI EMPOLI
www.windmillart.it
March 8 – March 28, 2026
Hours: Tuesday to Saturday, 5:00 PM – 7:30 PM by appointment
SINCRESIS
Via della Repubblica nn. 52/54 Empoli Tel. 0571 73619
www.sincresisarte.com https://www.facebook.com/sincresisarteformazione/?locale=it_IT