Max Mara Art Prize for Women in Florence

Florence pays tribute to two decades of committed feminine creation. Until August 31, 2025, Palazzo Strozzi will be hosting the Time for Women! exhibition, retracing twenty years of the Max Mara Art Prize for Women. A rare plunge into the artistic intimacy of nine major women on the contemporary scene.

A visionary award, a committed approach

Created in 2005 by Max Mara, in partnership with London’s Whitechapel Gallery, this prize was the first to be dedicated exclusively to emerging female artists based in the UK. More than an award, it offers a six-month residency in Italy, conceived as a creative parenthesis where exploration, experimentation and freedom become the only watchwords.

In 2007, the Collezione Maramotti joined the project, adding a heritage and family dimension to this cultural sponsorship initiative. At the time, this innovative program won the British Council Arts & Business International Award. The award recognized the company’s commitment to the arts and to the community.

Nine artists, one sensitive fresco

At La Strozzina, works by Margaret Salmon, Laure Prouvost, Emma Talbot, Dominique White and six other prizewinners come together for the first time. Sculptures, installations, videos… Each work bears witness to a personal and collective journey, an immersion in Italian culture, but also a feminist view of the world.

Emma Hart, for example, revisits commedia dell’arte, while Helen Cammock delves into the memory of forgotten stories. The themes addressed – maternity, heritage, identity, society – resonate powerfully through forms that are often hybrid, but always sincere.

An exhibition that claims

Time for Women! doesn’t just celebrate women’s creativity. It calls for a space where women artists can fully express themselves. A powerful reminder, at a time when gender inequalities in art persist, often invisible but very real.

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