History’s forgotten women regain their place in an exhibition at the University of Barcelona

​​​​​​​The Office of the Rector’s Team was largely represented at the event, among the attendees were vice-rectors Agustí Alcoberro, Ernest Abadal, Xavier Triadó, Josep Monserrat and Montserrat Puig. It was presented by Isabel Boj, lecturer of Teaching and Learning of Social Sciences at the Faculty of Education, researcher at the Heritage and Learning Research Group (DIDPATRI), scholar in the field of women’s prehistory and head of the educational programmes at the Atapuerca site and the didactic company Schola Didàctica Activa. At the presentation, she stressed “the importance not only of recording the presence of women in history, but also of representing them. These are lives that should help us to build our present and also our future”, she said.

For her part, the vice-rector Maria Feliu emphasized that “at last, there are female references in the vestibule, a place full of male representations”. The Rector concluded the event with a reflection on the title of the exhibition: “There are no words left: history as a reconstruction of our past, ours on the sense of community it represents, and women because of the need to recover and vindicate their legacy”.

The exhibition is the result of a project promoted by Francesc Xavier Hernàndez, professor of Teaching and Learning Social Sciences at the UB, and Paula Jardón, lecturer at the University of Valencia, who is part of the Past Women movement. The exhibition offers a visual approach to the history of several women who played a decisive role in areas such as politics, culture, thought or science in the Catalan-speaking countries and who have been, in many cases, forgotten or relegated to a secondary role.

Each of the fifty plates on display has been printed on foam panels, measuring 140 centimetres high by 95 centimetres wide, and will be distributed throughout the vestibule of the UB’s Historic Building to create an immersive journey through the history of these women. The use of advanced digital techniques such as the creation of virtual sets (matte painting), digital retouching and artificial intelligence (AI) has made it possible to reconstruct both their appearance and the context in which they lived, providing a realistic and faithful visual approach to the historical facts.

Among the figures represented are names such as Duoda, author of the first known philosophical treatise written by a woman in medieval Europe; the jurist Juliana Morell; the textile entrepreneur Tecla Sala; the international soprano Lucrezia Bori, and many others. Some of these women are part of the imaginary, while others have been recovered thanks to painstaking historical research.

The exhibition is part of a broader research and dissemination initiative, which has led to the publication by Angle Editorial of the book Dones de la nostra història. 55 imatges per recrear i entendre el passat (2025), and aims to provide a new perspective on historical narrative, to overcome traditional biases and offer a more balanced and plural view of the past. The use of innovative digital techniques makes it possible to reconstruct the image of women of whom no graphic representations have been preserved, based on historical evidence and rigorous contextualization work.

With this exhibition, the UB reaffirms its commitment to the dissemination of historical knowledge and the incorporation of a more inclusive approach to the study of the past.