CENTER FOR GIRLS HELD 1OTH ARTFEMINE FESTIVAL AND CENELBRATED 25 YEARS OF WORK

Over 60 people attended the 10th anniversary ArtFemine Festival of Feminist Art and Activism, organized by the 0d Center for Girls on July 1-7, 2023.

On the first day of the festival, the art and psychology workshop “What She Says” by sculptor Tamara Zečević was held. Ten participants of the workshop reflected on their emotions and their identity, and then each created conceptual jewelry inspired by the inner world of another participant. In the evening, the premiere of the film about the Center for Girls was shown in the Art55 Gallery and a publication about the organization’s 25 years of existence and work was promoted. The film was shot by Boban Rajković, and he and Tatjana Nikolić worked tirelessly together to merge the recorded material into a whole. Tatjana Nikolić and Sara Plazinić spoke about the publication, and Jelena Virijević, Jana Tošić, Mina Žikić and Milica Živić read their texts from the publication, which was graphically edited by ASanja Solunac. The evening continued with the opening of the exhibition of works created at the 8th Feminist Art Colony, entitled “That Road We Walk”. At the opening, artist and collaborator Sanja Solunac and artists who participated in last year’s colony, Jelena Prljević and Tamara Zečević, spoke. They talked about what the Feminist Art Colony means for them and for the art scene in Serbia and how their participation in the colony affected their professional and personal development. The evening ended with socializing, hugs and an exchange of positive energy.

On the second day of the festival, the art and psychology workshop “Self-portrait to self-therapy” by Jovana Đorđević was held. Twelve participants had the opportunity to explore themselves, their emotions, needs and desires and to express themselves through the collage technique. The participants first thought about what they wanted to say with their works, then they created collages, and later they commented and explained their works. In the evening, a lecture on gender-sensitive language, “Why we got rid of gender”, was held by Professor Svetlana Tomić. The audience had the opportunity to hear more about the history of gender in the Serbian language and the history of the struggle to introduce gender-sensitive language into the norm, laws that prescribe the use of gender-sensitive language and anti-gender currents in the Serbian public and the scientific community, as well as why they are harmful to the science of language and the position of women in society. This was followed by the promotion of the book “Talking About Blocks” by writer Jelena Nolan-Roll. The interview with the author was conducted by Sanja Solunac. The audience had the opportunity to hear the recommendations of two of the author’s friends, and then talk with the writer about the inspiration for the creation of the book, the structure of the work and the characters in the work, and what writing this book meant to her.

On the third day, the promotion of the digital platform Women’s Museum was held, which is a project of the Union of Feminist Organizations (Re)connection and part of the international network of women’s museums IAWM. The platform was presented by the philosopher Silvia Dražić. The audience had the opportunity to learn about the concept of a women’s museum, the way of collecting materials for a women’s museum and the importance of such a platform for increasing the visibility of women in the history of science and art.

On the fourth day, the promotion of Biljana Kosmogina’s book, “Breast Circle” was held. The interview with the writer was conducted by Sara Plazinić. The audience had the opportunity to learn more about the author’s inspiration for writing stories, to learn about the author’s views on self-censorship and queer literature.

On the fifth day of the festival, the “Water on fire” workshop was planned, but due to bad weather conditions, it was postponed until the day after the end of the festival. This workshop was an opportunity for the participants to connect with nature and with their creative side. The participants got rid of stress with the help of their creativity. The workshop was led by Maja Delibašić, a psychologist and psychotherapist. She is a certified transactional analyst and practitioner of play therapy.

On the sixth day of the jubilee ArtFemine festival, a concert was held by the musician Anita Šunjić from Mostar. The citizens of Niš had the opportunity to get to know Anita’s music, but also to hear some already well-known songs by other performers from the former Yugoslavia.

On the seventh day of the jubilee ArtFemine festival, the literary performance “Good morning, jazz girls” by Jasna Jovićević was held. The citizens of Niš had the opportunity to get acquainted with Jasna’s research and artistic work on contemporary and jazz music with an emphasis on gender and interactive strategies of improvisation in jazz. At the end of the literary performance, we had the opportunity to once again hear the musician Anita Šunjić, who performed the previous evening. The evening continued with the performance-lecture “In the arms of the forgotten” by Maja Mitić.

The festival passed with a lot of hugs, laughter, socializing and positive energy.

The ArtFemine festival was supported by OAK and the Trag Foundation and the Global Fund for Women.

Photo: Marija V., Marta S., Aleksandra N., Sara P., Svetlana T., Lazar R.