We are very pleased to inform you that on March 20, the Day of City of Zenica and the month of March – Month of Women’s History – we plan to share with the people of Zenica a women’s, activist and artistic endeavor titled “Urban Herstories – Female Face of Zenica” that we realized in the past year.
“Women’s map” of the city, audio guide through Zenica and photo-collages of Ukrainian artist Elena Subach are just some of the results of this international project, which innovatively documented social, political and urban changes in Zenica from the 1960s onwards through a women’s perspective.
Based on interviews with six women from Zenica, the Association “Naš most” mapped six locations in the center of Zenica. Sabiha Bajramović, Meliha Bičo Družić, Mara Sujić Božić, Lejla Ramić Pejić, Gordana Mišetić and Zdena Šarić told their stories related to Talića brdo Street, Vladimir Nazor Elementary School, former Central Cinema, Elementary Music School, former Metalurg Hotel and the premises of the Association “Naš most”.
The stories relate, among other things, to their memories of growing up in socialist Yugoslavia, their historical attitude towards women, the impact of transition on urban change in the city, and aging in post-war BiH. In addition to personal memories, the stories also contain interesting information about important, but insufficiently known women in the history of BiH and the City of Zenica. An audio guide, which is based on their stories, was created and serves as a creative “tool” for sound walks through the female past of Zenica along the mapped locations.
This has supported the efforts of women, especially the elderly, to become more visible in public space. The project also opened space for the introduction of unknown and important women’s experiences in the history of the City of Zenica.
If you want to hear walks through Zenica along the so-called “Women’s maps” can access an audio guide called “Female face of Zenica” whenever they want at the link: https://cutt.ly/OzlWZ2Y. You will need a smartphone, internet connection and headphones in order to listen to the audio guide. More information about the audio guide is available on the Facebook event link: https://www.facebook.com/events/344815576845013.
At the end of the walk, i.e., at the entrance to the premises of the Association “Naš most” at Maršla Tita Street no. 22, an exhibition of photo-collages by Ukrainian artist Elena Subach, also called “Female Face of Zenica”, will be set up this spring. Elena Subach turned the archival photographic material of the participants of the project and Zenica into an interesting art project based on the stories of six women. In this way, walkers will be able to see the faces of women whose voices guided them through Zenica, which will complete this unusual interactive experience. Her work is also available on the project website: https://www.urbanherstories.com/exhibition/.
The project “Urban Herstories – Female Face of Zenica” was jointly implemented by “Naš most” Zenica, Insha Osvita from Ivano-Frankivsk in Ukraine, Kino Usmev from Košice in Slovakia and Strefa Kultury Wrocław from Wrocław in Poland. The partner in the project is the Association Naša djeca Zenica.
As part of the same project, the partner organization Insha Osvita from Ukraine conducted a survey on women and public spaces in the city of Ivano-Frankivsk, and the Slovak partner organization Kino Usmev filmed a documentary on third age women in Slovakia. All multimedia materials are also available on the UrbanHerstories.com project website.
The project was implemented through the Tandem Ukraine Program, developed by MitOst e.V. and the European Cultural Foundation (ECF). The Tandem Ukraine is implemented in cooperation with Insha Osvita and is supported by the German Federal Office for Foreign Affairs within the framework of the “Dialogue for Change”, the ECF and the Black Sea Trust, a project of the German Marshall Fund of the United States.
We are at your disposal for additional information and questions.
Find out more about the Association “Naš most” in the article: Association “Naš most ” Zenica: “A place of socializing, relaxation and creativity”
