Faculty of Health Sciences

Perhaps the most important exhibition of the year: A donated uterus and embroidery about anxiety

There is still just time to attend the Open House at the Steno Museum’s new exhibition: “The Overlooked Body – Blood, Breasts and Inequality”. Admission is free, and there will be welcome drinks on Thursday at 15:30.

Photo: Kasper Hornbæk & Science Museerne, Aarhus University and Line Rønn, Health

There were tears in more than one eye when Karen-Maria Stubager spoke about the uterus she has donated to the Steno Museum’s new exhibition.

She was given the floor in front of the invited guests on 17 June at the formal opening of the Steno Museum’s new exhibition: “The Overlooked Body – Blood, Breasts and Inequality”.

Today, there is an Open House where, among many other things, you can see the uterus, which is a powerful symbol of Karen-Maria Stubager’s life with endometriosis and her struggle to function with severe pain in everyday life as an IT project manager and mother of two daughters.

Come to the Open House

Everyone is invited to the Open House in the Steno Museum’s new exhibition: The Overlooked Body – Blood, Breasts and Inequality.

Thursday 18 June, 16:00–18:00.

Free admission and welcome drinks from 15:30.

16:00: Opening speeches by project manager Anne Sofie Bomholt Larsen and the artists Amanda Kessaris, Ida Fonslet and Caroline Bang Hedegaard

16:15: Explore the exhibition

There is no registration - you simply turn up.

Read more at https://denoversetekrop.dk

You can also see the work Anxiety from Within, which was created in collaboration between a class from a Danish continuation school and the artists Ida Fonslet and Amanda Kessaris. It presents the young people’s interpretations of the concept of anxiety. 

More than 400 children and young people have helped develop formats and content for the exhibition, which Alderman for Culture and Citizens’ Services Jesper Kjeldsen (S) called “a gift to men” at the opening. Especially men like himself, who grew up in West Jutland with one hour of sex education, as he drily remarked in his speech.

Sit down in a breast-shaped piece of furniture

Researchers from the Faculty of Health have helped devise the idea, secure funding and gather the interdisciplinary team that has translated research into an exhibition with art installations, personal stories and medical-historical artefacts.

“It has been a truly wonderful collaboration between the Steno Museum and researchers, artists, patients and young people. I am very proud of what we have accomplished together," says Associate Professor Felicity Mae Davis from the Department of Biomedicine.

Dean Anne-Mette Hvas also gave a speech at the opening:

“For far too long, the female body has been surrounded by silence, taboos and a lack of research,” she said, stating that The Overlooked Body – Blood, Breasts and Inequality is much more than an exhibition.

“It is a space for conversation and for realisation. A space where what was previously overlooked is made visible.”

Also visible was the work Mammae by Caroline Bang Hedegaard, which functions both as a breast-shaped piece of furniture that you can sit in and as a work of art. The breast has been made with the skin peeled off, so that the visitor can take a seat in it and experience mammary glands and milk ducts.

Hurry over and try it out.

See the photos from the reception

Together with young people, researchers, and artists, the Science Museums have created an exhibition that focuses on how and why female bodies have been overlooked in medical research.
At the opening, the focus is on how art can communicate science.
The exhibition is called "The Overlooked Body – Blood, Breasts, and Inequality," and of course you can learn more about menstruation. It shows how much different women bleed over the course of 3 days.
The work 'Angsten Indefra' was created based on a 10th-grade class at Aarhus Efterskole and the students' individual embroideries and interpretations of anxiety.
Researchers from the Faculty of Health Sciences have contributed with research and clinical knowledge about how female bodies have been underprioritized in medical research - regarding e.g. the placenta, endometriosis, menstruation, the breast, anxiety, and gender inequality in health.
The breast furniture ‘Mammae’ turns anatomical knowledge into a physical and tactile experience that sparks visitors' curiosity – while also giving them a place to sit and rest their legs.
To sew the furniture's 16 mammary gland covers, 6.5 km of thread, 16 m of cotton fabric, and 20 m of upholstery wool were used. The wool is dyed so it got just the right pink gland shades.
The works contain both individual experiences and a shared story.
"Increased awareness is only the first step. The awareness must be followed by more research, a deeper understanding, and thus more equality in treatment," said the dean of the Faculty of Health Sciences, Anne-Mette Hvas.
Researchers from Aarhus University are a key part of the team behind the exhibition.
The exhibition highlights, among other things, the consequences gender inequality in research has for medicine, diagnosis, and treatment, both historically and today.
'Rådmand' for Culture and Citizen Services Jesper Kjeldsen (S) called the exhibition 'a gift for men'.
The exhibition is supported by the Novo Nordisk Foundation.
Over 400 kids and teenagers have helped develop formats and content.
The exhibition is on the 1st floor of the Steno Museum.
How does it affect research, diagnosis, and treatment when women's bodies have been – and still are – overlooked in medical research? That question is the central focus of the works.
"Thanks for being brave, timely, and giving us the little nudge that keeps us moving forward," said the Associate Dean at the Faculty of Natural Sciences, Ole Bækgaard.
"We have wanted to create an exhibition where the overlooked in health research is transformed into a shared bodily and sensory experience," says Ella Paldam, deputy director and head of communication at the Science Museums.
Students from Aarhus Efterskole officially opened the exhibition.
"They're doing well, the good doctors, but they lack knowledge," said 42-year-old Karen-Maria Stubager, who has been seriously affected by endometriosis and a clueless healthcare system. After having her uterus removed, she donated it to the project.
Students from Aarhus Efterskole have helped create the work Angsten Indefra in collaboration with the artists Ida Fonslet and Amanda Kessaris.

Contact

Associate Professor Felicity Mae Davis
Aarhus University, Department of Biomedicine
Email: [email protected]

Revised 02.07.2026