Ombra Custode | Sergia Avveduti

On Wednesday, January 14, 2026 at 5:00 PM, the Museo Civico d’Arte Industriale e Galleria Davia Bargellini opens Ombra Custode, a solo exhibition by Sergia Avveduti, curated by Elena Forin, realized in collaboration with AF Gallery.

The exhibition project is part of the institutional program of ART CITY Bologna 2026 (February 5–8), the schedule of exhibitions, events, and initiatives promoted by the Municipality of Bologna with the support of BolognaFiere on the occasion of Arte Fiera.
The exhibition will be open until Sunday, March 1.

Through a substantial body of works, many of them previously unseen, consisting of sculptures, installations, digital photographic prints, and prints on silk, Sergia Avveduti establishes a connection between the activities of preservation and conservation carried out by the museum institution and the social function of protection and education fulfilled by the Opere Pie and the “Conservatori per cittelle”, institutions characterized by fragility and precarious economic conditions, founded in Bologna between the 16th and 17th centuries. An activity carried out in an active and positive manner, yet also with sobriety and discretion, almost in the shadows.

The artist’s inspiration arises from the presence, within the heterogeneous permanent collections of the Museo Civico d’Arte Industriale e Galleria Davia Bargellini, located on the ground floor of Palazzo Davia Bargellini and still owned today by the Fondazione Opera Pia Davia Bargellini, of several examples of the extraordinary embroidered works produced by the young female residents of the Conservatorio delle Putte di Santa Marta, the oldest institution of female education in Bologna, founded in 1505 by Carlo Duosi for orphaned girls from once-prosperous families fallen on hard times, as an outgrowth of the Opera Pia dei Poveri Vergognosi.

The Conservatory’s educational and welfare institution welcomed at-risk young women, the putte, who lived isolated from the outside world and were educated in the art of embroidery: an activity that combined training, discipline, and creativity, transforming manual labor into a gesture of care, emancipation, and cultural transmission.

During their stay, the putte had no contact with the outside world and lived in a protected yet isolated environment that introduced them to various trades. Among these, embroidery—often executed with silk threads using the “punto pittura” technique—represented a means of subsistence and future autonomy. Their works—copies of prints or famous paintings—were in demand for covering furnishing textiles or for display as “silk paintings,” helping to secure a dowry or material support for their future.

By punctuating the spaces and collections with her works, the artist evokes these anonymous “painters of the needle,” highlighting the connection between protection, education, and artisanal creativity in the Bolognese context, and restoring dignity and memory to these women through the concept of care that has traversed time and today allows the public to visit the Davia Bargellini collection.

The exhibition also creates an ideal dialogue between the historical heritage of paintings, tapestries, and ancient objects and that evoked by Sergia Avveduti’s works, which allude to the past and to the universe of quotation.

During the exhibition period, free mediation activities are offered for both adult audiences and children.