The Center for Girls successfully realized the 11th ArtFemine festival of feminist art and activism, titled "Amazing, Strong, Free". The indoor events were visited by over 240 people, and the street performance, was seen by over 2,000 of them. During 4 days, the festival hosted 14 important women from the artistic, scientific and activist scene. 

The first day of the festival began with a ceremonial opening and an art exhibition called "Woman as a Rock", which included the works of the participants of the 9th Feminist Art Colony in Sićevo: Tamara Knežević (Novi Sad), Jelena Čuljić (Trstenik), Vanja Bajović (Čačak), Marija Jojić (Belgrade), Sanja Solunac (Belgrade), Marija Matović (Belgrade), Anđelija Roglić (Raška), as well as drawings by Vladica Čulić. We continued the evening with the promotion of the book "Imperfect" by psychologist, psychotherapist and activist Lidija Vasiljević. Sara Plazinić talked with the author about how the patriarchal view of the concept of normality harms women, about the history of mental illnesses and their treatment in women, as well as about how misogyny and prejudice shaped the attitude of psychotherapy towards women and were used as an excuse for their institutionalization, and more.

On the second day of the festival, the activists of the Center for Girls performed the performance "Women's Cemetery" in the center of Niš and distributed pamphlets about violence and femicide to fellow citizens. In the evening, at the forum on violence against women, Marija Virijević spoke with Nevena Petrušić - president of the Women's Research Center, Vida Vilić - scientific associate and criminologist and Dejana Stošić - educator and activist, about the prevalence and different forms of violence against women, especially sexual violence, domestic violence and femicide. There were talks about the mechanisms for protecting women from violence and how they function in reality, about the role of institutions and the environment in providing protection and support to women, about the prejudices that exist about violence, about activism and its importance, but also about why it is important to recognize femicide as special type of murder and have official statistics about it. After the serious topics, the evening continued in a more relaxed atmosphere, with the stand-up performance "You rock, Irena" by the comedian Jagoda Jovanović, and then with the party "Amazing, strong, free" by DJ Alex.

The third day of the festival started with a workshop on making jewelry from recycled material ("Transformation" by Tanja Cakić), a drama workshop ("From an idea to a drama realization" by actress Dragana Jovanović) and an art workshop ("What does the collective we want to be a part of" looks like by artist Jelena Prljević) In the evening, the audience had the opportunity to talk with Anđela Čech from the Egal association at the presentation of her research on violence in lesbian partner relationships, to hear how widespread violence is in lesbian relationships, and how the law sees this violence. The evening ended with the promotion of the book "Jefimija, the woman who won't" by Minja Marđonović (100glava). The audience had the opportunity to hear more about the inspiration behind the book, how the book is connected to the first part, "Jefimija, the woman who waits", as well as the author's views on important social issues.

On the last day of the festival, three more workshops were held: comics workshop ("Heroes" by artist Jelena Đorđević), jewelry making workshops ("Expression trough jewelery" by Jana Tošić) and collage making workshops ("Combinatorics of newspaper titles" by Marija Marković). The festival took place in a positive, friendly, relaxed atmosphere. Hugs, ideas were exchanged, new acquaintances were made and discussions on important topics were started.

These are some of the guest comments:

The organization of the events is impeccable as always and it was a real pleasure for me.

I had a good time with the pannel, the atmosphere was relaxed, not like a stiff academic environment. In the eyes of those present, I saw the interest and desire to learn some new information.

The girls at the workshop were wonderful and it was a real pleasure to watch how creativity takes over and how, at least for a short time, we share a space in which something is calculated differently and in which we are safe and our own.

One of the guests at the festival shared her impressions in a blog post.

And here's what the audience had to say:

I was given the opportunity to meet some new women, learn a lot from them and completely relax. I hope that such a powerful festival will be held next year as well, and I would be very happy to repeat this experience.

It was phenomenal at the workshop. I was a little afraid of how it would be with unknown women, but I was relieved when I saw how relaxed they all were. This definitely helped me step out of my comfort zone a bit.

The festival reminded me of the strength of togetherness and the importance of fighting for equality in all aspects of life.

We would like to thank the Art55 Gallery, Labeeerint Pub and the Student Cultural Center for their cooperation and providing of the space.

The ArtFemine festival received support from the Swiss government, within the "Culture for Democracy" project, which is run by the Hartefakt Fund. Activities at the festival were also supported by OAK/Trag Foundation and Reconstruction Women's Fund.

You can see more photos HERE.

You can watch video on our YOUTUBE CHANNEL.

Photo: Marta S., Marija V.

Video - recorded and montaged: Boban R.