SILENCE - exhibition by Mersud Selman visual artist, student of Roma English Language Program - 6 PM on March 8, 2016 – Oktagon
“Silence is where everything starts. My birthplace is silenced. This is where I grew up. I would like to depict my silence in paintings. But silence can also be a problem. Where I come from, Bosnia, it is not unusual that injustice happens to women. The women I depict in my paintings are Roma women. They hide a lot of emotions inside themselves, a kind of suffering. But they choose silence instead and suffer inside. Yet I want everybody to realize that Roma people are no different than other people. They are like everyone else. The doll is the symbol of life. My life. I remember that during the war in Bosnia, I saw a lot of abandoned dolls. Dolls represent childhood in war. Dolls are silent, like the women in my paintings. Their archaic smile hides much within. Dolls, like babies, symbolize new blossoms, the blossoms of art and life. The portraits of Roma women can be explained through the face of a doll. This is the way I see Roma women from the outside, as I portray them in my paintings. These are silent Roma women who hide so much within themselves. Yet they keep it all silent. What is your silence about?”
Opening speech by Tímea Junghaus art historian
BLACK SWANS - screening of a 30-min-documentary directed by Zuzana Dubova in 2015 - 6.30 PM on March 8, 2016 - Auditorium
Black Swans tells in a film poetic way the story of two Roma women. Dana lives in a traditional alliance with a Roma husband, who has recently cheated on her and returned to her. Milada lives in a hostel with one of her daughters and her struggle for a better future is full of obstacles - medical complications, exclusion from her family and the impossibility of seeing her first-born daughter.
POSSIBILITIES OF ROMA WOMEN IN CENTRAL-EASTERN EUROPE - discussion - 7 PM on March 8, 2016 - Auditorium
Roma women face challenges every single day. Apart from sharing their communities' struggles, Roma women usually face multiple discrimination simply by the virtue of being female and Roma. This includes not only discrimination from non-Roma but also within the Roma communities. How can Roma women be empowered to overcome the struggles and challenges?
Participants: Zuzana Dubova – film director, Katerina Hodicka – director of Gender Information Centre, NORA , moderator: Ostalinda Maya - project manager, Open Society Justice Initiative.
In cooperation with CEU Roma Access Programs, Gender Information Centre NORA, OSF Budapest.
Admission is free. Reception to follow!