Emma Talbot | The Age | L'Età | Whitechapel

On 30 June, Whitechapel Gallery unveils a major new art work transforming the former library in our ground floor gallery space. Emma Talbot, 2019 winner of the Max Mara Art Prize for Women presents: The Age/ L’Età.

Talbot began with a consideration of Gustav Klimt’s painting ‘The Three Ages of Woman’ (1905), which depicts an older naked woman shielding herself in shame.

Over the course of a six-month Italian residency in 2021 organised by The Collezione Maramotti in Reggio Emilia, Italy, Talbot re-framed the older woman as a figure with agency, capable of overcoming a series of trials similar to The Twelve Labors of Hercules. Through her modern-day trials, the woman reconstructs contemporary society, tackling some of the most pressing issues of our time.

30 June – 4 September 2022