We invite you to the exhibition "History That No More Exist" that will be placed in the public area of the Old Town of Kotor on 29/4/2014. The gathering is scheduled at 18:00h at the Pjaca od Kina (Cinema Square). Welcome!
"History That No More Exist" is an artistic project encouraged by the research entitled:"Women Map of Boka Kotorska", which was realized by the NGO Anima from June to December 2013. The original idea was to explore the layers of women's history in the Boka Bay, and then present them, creatively, to the public through artistic intervention in public space. NGO Anima research consisted of resource searching in libraries and archives (search for original documents and books, newspapers and magazines), and discussions with a number of individuals.
During the research work on "Women Map of Boka Kotorska" it became clear that in the libraries and archives there is very little information about women, that information are not integrated or are difficult to access.
This situation confirmed us a clear division on:
- Public sphere that belongs to men - one that is captured, stored and glorified and
- Private sphere that belongs to women (the space of everyday life, reproduction) - the one that remains unheard, implying and, in historical terms - ignored
The lack of information in existing sources during research "Women Map of Boka Kotorska" encouraged us to initiate an action titled HISTORY THAT NO MORE EXIST. We felt that, from the personal - private memories of men and women, it is interesting and valuable to look at how different (wonderful, horrible, worm, heroic) women's stories there are. How important it is to preserve them from oblivion and re-evaluate the private sphere in which silently, from generation to generation, these stories sediment over each other in a long and continuous silence.
On International Women's Day, March 8th, 2014., NGO Expeditio has sent a public invitation to the citizents to send a scanned photo of their mothers, great-grandmothers, neighbors, friends, teachers, maid of honor, and another beloved women that marked their lives (and are no longer with us). It was important to submit a short story along the photo, noting the reasons that person was special. The invitation was sent to everyone, regardless of gender and age. During the month we gathered over 60 personal stories and lots of photos, some of which you can see on the screens exposed in public areas of Kotor, which are prepared by designer Tanja Radež from Ljubljana. Most of these women lived in the Bay of Kotor, and some of them have loved this area and often visited it. Unfortunately, in the form of exhibitions we could not fully present all material and numerous photos that we received. Therefore we decided to, after the exhibition, launch a web site "History That No More Exist" , on which will be published and available to all, valuable material that was collected. The web site will also allow the existing collection of memories to enrich with new stories.
Lead partner on this project is NGO Expeditio, in cooperation with the NGO Anima and the designer Tanja Radež from Ljubljana.
This activity is realized through the projects: “ECLECTIS- European Citizens’ Laboratory for Empowerment CiTIes Shared” fynded by EU within Culture Programme 2007-2013; ublic spaces as a field of intercultural dialogue and the promotion of social values" funded by Ana Lindh Foundation; Promotion of Sustainable Development in Public Spaces of Boka Kotorska,funded by the Rockefeller Brothers Fund.