Ocean Znanja connected seven women with a shared passion for using the arts and storytelling for the purpose of talking about women in our community.
WHO ARE THESE WOMEN?
The project „Story of H.E.R.“ is rooted in the question of women’s representation in the public and an understanding of the extent to which women of all ages experience diminishment, while their role in the community is portrayed in very limiting ways.
Driven by these social issues Lucija, Zrinka, Bruna, Milica, Agata, Mariana, and Lorena joined forces and decided to write and implement this project to actively engage in an area where actions, education, and systemic efforts are lacking. Through this project, the plan is to achieve a positive impact in our local community by highlighting and acknowledging the diverse contributions and roles that women have in it, which helps to counteract traditional gender biases and narrow representations of women in public.
If you googled „Important women“ at this very moment, long lists of truly amazing women who changed the world through various scientific, humanistic, artistic, and business endeavors would appear. However, in „the Story of H.E.R.“, we give importance to the role that women play in the contemporary age, with a clear emphasis on their impact on others. We have personally experienced numerous invisible unrecognized forms of work, action, support, and significance of women, which we believe unfairly go unnoticed, yet simultaneously contribute to building and sustaining the community.
Remember the woman who noticed a tear on your face during a bus ride you both happened to take and offered you a tissue and a listening ear? Remember the woman who dared not to fulfill the expectations of everybody else but lived up to her own? The (courageous) woman who faces life’s challenges, insecurities, and new beginnings with an open heart (being an inspiration to us all)?
We are talking about her, and many others who often remain in the shadows of public recognition because they don’t fit into the traditional categories of being “deserving” or “exceptional”, which is an exclusionary and disempowering approach.
WHAT WILL WE DO?
This project will take place in a 12-month time frame during which we aim to create a collection of stories about “everyday” women crafted by Mariana’s and Agata’s visual interpretation of these narratives which will finally be shown through a “hidden” public exhibition across various locations in our local community and access to these exhibits will be possible through the easy process of scanning a code.
During the next phase of this project, a ten-day artist-in-residence program will be organized in which emerging artists will have an opportunity to create their works based on the project’s previous accomplishments with an emphasis on the idea of transforming experiences, emotions, and stories related to the impact of women in our lives into a tangible form.
All parts of this process as well as outcomes of the project and artistic works will be showcased digitally and will be free for everyone with access to the Internet. Our goal is not only to shake the existing nature of the public sphere by portraying and honoring women through different media but also to bring these visual stories closer to all members of the community by keeping the process of the project and its activities open to the public, available on digital platforms and geographically dispersed in urban and non-urban parts of our city.
HOW CAN YOU CONTRIBUTE?
Share your story HERE
This project is funded as a solidarity project by the Agency for Mobility and EU programs through the European Solidarity Corps program of the European Commission.
text by Lorena Mijatović
logo of the project by Mariana Klepić