The Wellcome Collection in London is preparing to open a major exhibition titled 'The Coming of Age,' which explores the complex realities and cultural anxieties surrounding aging and longevity. The show features diverse objects, from Japan's official silver sake cups for centenarians to Sam Taylor-Johnson's time-lapse film of rotting fruit and artworks examining biological immortality.
The exhibition matters because it confronts a pressing global demographic shift, where living past 100 is becoming more common, yet societal attitudes remain fraught with paradoxes of reverence and fear. Curator Shamita Sharmacharja aims to move beyond purely biological definitions of age, highlighting how the pandemic sharpened debates about the value, vulnerability, and profound inequality experienced across different life stages.