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The Coming of Age

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Two visitors look at sculptures of three women on large wooden pillars, surrounded by apples. The central figure's body has been opened up and her insides are visible.
‘Wild Apples’, Serena Korda, 2024. ‘The Coming of Age’ exhibition at Wellcome Collection, Gallery Photo: Steven Pocock. Source: Wellcome Collection. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).

An exhibition that gives you hope about getting old. ★★★★

The Times

‘The Coming of Age’ explores experiences and perceptions of ageing, from adolescence to later life, and asks how societies can adapt for us all to age better.

Across the globe, people are living longer. One in ten children in the UK are expected to live beyond the age of 100. But who gets to live longer and ‘age well’? This exhibition explores how experiences of age are shaped by our environment, culture and society.

‘The Coming of Age’ features 150 artworks and objects, from historical artefacts to works by contemporary artists including John Coplans, Serena Korda, Suzanne Lacy, Anna Maria Maiolino, Rory Pilgrim, Paula Rego and more.

Bringing together different perspectives from art, science and popular culture, this exhibition challenges assumptions about life stages and asks what greater longevity means for all of us.

Exhibition highlights

Two metal sake cups on a red stand. Above them is a framed Japanese centenarian certificate congratulating someone on reaching 100 years of age.
Sake cups, Unknown maker, Japan, 1990s and 2000s. ‘The Coming of Age’ exhibition at Wellcome Collection, Gallery Photo: Steven Pocock. Source: Wellcome Collection. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
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Japan has one of the world’s longest life expectancies. Since 1963, the government has presented every citizen turning 100 with a commemorative silver sake cup. In that first year, 153 cups were awarded. By 2014 this had risen to over 29,000, costing around £1.2 million and prompting a switch to a cheaper nickel substitute. This gesture raises questions about respect and resource: how do we value a 100-year life when it becomes increasingly common?

On the left is a fragile white Zimmer frame with a white cloth folded over the front. On the right is a walking cane made of bone with a skull on the top, against a green background.
Left: ‘Zimmer’, Daphne Wright, 2019. Right: Walking stick belonging to Charles Darwin, Unknown maker, England, 1839–81, Source: Wellcome Collection / Science Museum Group. ‘The Coming of Age’ exhibition at Wellcome Collection, Gallery Photo: Steven Pocock. Source: Wellcome Collection. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
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Walking sticks, crutches and zimmer frames have become symbols of older age, with different associations of status and vulnerability. On the left is Daphne Wright’s sculpture, ‘Zimmer’, which explores the tension between support and frailty. It reflects how these devices can embody both resilience and loss. On the right is a walking cane that belonged to Charles Darwin. The skull is a reminder of death and of life’s preciousness.

Gallery wall of painted and illustrated portraits.
European prints from the 17th to 19th centuries of super-aged people. ‘The Coming of Age’ exhibition at Wellcome Collection, Gallery Photo: Steven Pocock. Source: Wellcome Collection. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
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These European prints from the 17th to 19th centuries show people said to have lived to be extremely old. People did live into old age in the past, yet numerical age was often uncertain. Accounts of people living beyond 100 are likely untrue, shaped by bad record-keeping, wishful thinking and legendary stories. Certainly, no one has lived to 172 as claimed here. The oldest verified human on record was Jeanne Calment (1875–1997), who lived to 122.

A series of steps arc in the shape of a bridge. A couple ascends the steps and grow in age as they do, reaching peak health and vitality at the top of the bridge. As they descend their ageing continues until they are old and frail.
The ages of man represented in a step scheme. Coloured etching, ca. 1820. ‘The Coming of Age’ exhibition at Wellcome Collection, Gallery Photo: Steven Pocock. Source: Wellcome Collection. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
View in catalogue
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This Viennese print from 1820 is one of many in our collection that depict a linear path from growth to decline. It shows a man and woman ascending the steps from childhood to heterosexual marriage and social status, then descending as their physical health declines later in life. Today, the idea of a single path through life is outdated – but did life ever really follow these patterns?

Six portraits of young people are on the left, while a large black and white portrait of a teenager is on the right.
Age of Wonder – Teenage Stories, Carolyn Mendelsohn, 2022–ongoing. ‘The Coming of Age’ exhibition at Wellcome Collection, Gallery Photo: Steven Pocock. Source: Wellcome Collection. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
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Age of Wonder is the world’s largest study of adolescence. Based in Bradford, it follows 30,000 young people aged 12 to 19 through yearly interviews and questionnaires, exploring everything from financial security to social media. The responses help inform local decision-making, giving young people the power to shape their city – and influence their future. Artist-in-residence Carolyn Mendelsohn creates portraits with 25 participants each year, capturing their opinions, hopes, fears and dreams.  

Colourful badges with slogans about adolescence.
From left to right: ‘I’m having a mid‑teen crisis’, ‘New TEENAGER Here Comes Trouble’, ‘NOT’ and ‘I’m just a phase my parents are going through’, Flo Brooks, 2018. ‘The Coming of Age’ exhibition at Wellcome Collection, Gallery Photo: Steven Pocock. Source: Wellcome Collection. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
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Flo Brooks’s paintings are inspired by their teenage badge collection from the 1990s–2000s. Brooks revisited these emblems of youth and identity at age 28, during hormone therapy as part of their gender transition. The resulting works reflect their experience of a second puberty. At the time, Brooks had returned to their childhood home to care for their parents. They reflect on shifting family dynamics and challenge the idea that personal transformation only happens once.

Sculptures of three women on large wooden pillars, surrounded by apples. The central figure's body has been opened up and her insides are visible.
‘Wild Apples’, Serena Korda, 2024. ‘The Coming of Age’ exhibition at Wellcome Collection, Gallery Photo: Steven Pocock. Source: Wellcome Collection. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
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Serena Korda’s ‘Crones’ are figures of powerful wisdom. They challenge negative stereotypes and the cultural erasure of ageing women by reframing menopause as a time of positive transformation. Korda modelled them on real women aged 44 to 76 from England’s West Country. The sculptures also respond to the ‘Anatomical Venus’ – anatomical models from the 1600s. Scattered apples evoke nature, abundance and the transgression of forbidden fruit.

A wall of six framed self‑portraits by artist William Utermohlen.
William Utermohlen's self portraits. ‘The Coming of Age’ exhibition at Wellcome Collection, Gallery Photo: Steven Pocock. Source: Wellcome Collection. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
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American artist William Utermohlen painted portraits throughout his career, including of himself. Some of Utermohlen’s self portraits and life drawings are from the period after the artist’s diagnosis with Alzheimer’s disease in 1995. They show changes in his perception and spatial sense as his condition developed. Utermohlen and his wife, Patricia, worked with his neurologists on an academic paper about making art while living with dementia.

A woman sits by sickbed in a sparse room. There are two empty seats either side of her.
Woman seated by a sickbed / The Little Nurse, Jacobus Vrel, c. 1654. ‘The Coming of Age’ exhibition at Wellcome Collection, Gallery Photo: Steven Pocock. Source: Wellcome Collection. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
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Jacobus Vrel offers a glimpse of an older person resting in bed, unwell. In the foreground, a younger woman sits in a contemplative pose. Is the woman a family member or a paid nurse? Who are the empty chairs for? Vrel’s image captures the persistence of care given over many uneventful yet significant hours, connecting experiences of being with a very ill or dying loved one from centuries ago to those of today.

A drawing of a person sitting in a dreamlike landscape, with a robot next to them.
‘Sorting the ones from the noughts’, Rory Pilgrim, 2018. ‘The Coming of Age’ exhibition at Wellcome Collection, Gallery Photo: Steven Pocock. Source: Wellcome Collection. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
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This dreamlike drawing depicts Sheffield-based poet and disability advocate Carol R Kallend with a care robot named Pepper. It was made in the wake of cuts to the Disability Living Allowance, which drastically reduced disabled people’s access to care and benefits. Pilgrim’s drawing reflects Kallend’s hopes for a robot carer in lieu of state care and the people who had let her down.

On the left are surreal black and white portraits of women, while on the right is a photo of a group of older women are surrounded by pink tentacles.
Left: Selected portraits from ‘13 Aunties, Mirror Into Auntieverse’, niceaunties, 2025. Right: Still from ‘Auntiesocial’, niceaunties, 2023. ‘The Coming of Age’ exhibition at Wellcome Collection, Gallery Photo: Steven Pocock. Source: Wellcome Collection. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
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Singaporean artist niceaunties creates surreal digital and AI works celebrating ‘auntie culture’. ‘Auntie’ can be both affectionate and pejorative. Often sidelined in everyday life, here aunties take centre stage, navigating the absurdities of ageing, labour and environment. niceaunties also makes AI-generated black-and-white portraits of fictionalised aunties. With affection and humour, they affirm the vital roles that aunties play in extended family and community networks.

On the left is a textile with a scene, showing someone bringing a dish to a table where a woman is eating. In the middle is an illustration with Japanese text and a tongue poking out of a mouth. On the right of the textile is a little house next to a tree. On the right of the image is a plate and serviette with the logo of a tongue poking out.
Left: Tenugui (tea towel) and right: tableware, Restaurant of Mistaken Orders, Tokyo, Japan, 2017–25. ‘The Coming of Age’ exhibition at Wellcome Collection, Gallery Photo: Steven Pocock. Source: Wellcome Collection. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
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Japan’s Restaurant of Mistaken Orders is a social movement challenging stigma by employing people with dementia as floor staff. Orders may arrive ‘mistaken’, but the project celebrates the joy of human connection over efficiency, embracing imperfection as a positive force for social change. The initiative reflects Japan’s ageing population, where an estimated one in five people over 65 live with dementia.

Colourful boxes are filled with miscellaneous objects, with labels hanging off them.
‘Unclaimed’, The Liminal Space, 2026. ‘The Coming of Age’ exhibition at Wellcome Collection, Gallery Photo: Steven Pocock. Source: Wellcome Collection. Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).
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Each object in this interactive and surreal lost property office holds a personal story, drawn from conversations with ​people over 70 in Camden. ‘Unclaimed’ is based on findings from a recent research project by University College London. The installation reflects the wide variety of experiences of ageing today – and how easily many of these stories can be overlooked.

Visit us

Free admission

Galleries open Tuesday–Sunday, Opening times

Gallery 1, level 0

Step-free access is available to all floors of the building

British Sign Language videos are available

Access resources include a visual story, large print guides and audio description

Access resources

Plan your visit

Exhibition visual story

This visual story provides images and information to help you plan and prepare for your visit to the exhibition.

When you're here

Resources designed to support your visit are available online and in the gallery.

Digital highlights tour
  • Find out more about the exhibition with our digital highlights tour, available in short audio clips with audio description and transcripts, or as BSL videos. It can be accessed on your own device, via handheld devices with tactile buttons, or on an iPad which you can borrow
  • Watch BSL video tour
  • Listen to audio tour with audio description
BSL, transcripts and induction loops
Audio description and visual access
Wheelchair and physical access
  • Step-free access is available to all floors of the building
  • We have a Changing Places toilet on level 0 and accessible toilets on all floors
Sensory access
  • A visual story with a sensory map is available online and in the building at the start of the exhibition
  • You can borrow tinted glasses, tinted visors, ear defenders and weighted lap pads. Please speak to a member of staff in the building
  • Weekday mornings are usually the quietest times to visit

Access information, tours and queries

Visit our accessibility page
access@wellcomecollection.org