WUNRN
EASTERN
EUROPE, BALKANS, CAUCASUS, CENTRAL ASIA
PHOTOS OF
WOMEN, BY WOMEN - EXHIBITION - "THROUGH THEIR EYES"
PRESS
RELEASE
WIDE Network and KARAT Coalition
„Through
Their Eyes”
November 17, 2010 at 17:00
Mundo B, Cafe Kamilou, rue d’Edimbourg 26, 1050, Brussels
BRUSSELS - Come and see through their eyes: the professional and amateur women artists from
Eastern Europe, Balkans, Caucasus and Central Asia portray the diverse
realities of women’s lives in their countries. These are
the photographs of women made by women. The uniqueness of this exhibition
stands in its subjective vision of social, economic and cultural position of
women in the region, as seen through the eyes of women themselves.
The exhibition, hosted by WIDE Network
in Brussels, will officially open on November 17, 2010. The third Prize winner from
Georgia[i] and participants of the Data Gathering
Tours[ii] will be present at the vernissage and
share their experiences and present the realities of women’s
changing lives in the region.
Natalie Giorgadze (WIDE): “This
exhibition undermines existing stereotypes and shows the diversity of women’s
lives. The photographs depict women’s economic struggle in urban and rural
areas, as seen by the women artists. As some of the pictures are made by
professionals, while others are captured by amateurs, it gives a colourful
multiplicity to this selection of pictures”.
The exhibition shows the socio-economic
situation of women from Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia,
Macedonia, Moldova, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Serbia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.
Apart from the pictures, the comprehensive information about the economic state
of these countries will be presented.
Ewa Pintera (Karat Coalition): “The
exhibition consists of photographs but also of comprehensive information about
the economic situation of the depicted countries. In the course of the project,
participants of the data gathering tours from the so called “new
member states” have produced research, toolkits and
other awareness raising material about socio-economic situation in above
mentioned countries. These tools will also be presented at the opening in
Brussels”.
The pictures were submitted to a
photography competition in 2008; the winners were chosen by the international
jury[iii].Before coming to Brussels, the
exhibition was shown in Poland, Germany, Slovakia, Switzerland and Romania.
The exhibition is a part of regional
project co-financed by European Commission “Through
Their Eyes, Through Ours: Raising the public’s awareness about development problems
faced by women from developing countries in the EU Eastern Neighbourhood,
Balkans and Central Asia.” Being implemented by KARAT Coalition
with its national partners: Women in Development Europe - WIDE (Belgium),
GenderMediaCaucasus Journalists’ Association (Georgia), Permaculture and
Peacebuilding Centre PpcShtip (Macedonia), WOMNET (Germany) and Slovak Centre
for Communication and Development (Slovakia).
-
ENDS –
PHOTO AND INTERVIEW POSSIBILITIES:
-
The 3rd prize winner
from Georgia, Olga Soselia-Tsiskarishvili, participants of the Data Gathering
Tours and partners in the project can be interviewed at the opening of the
exhibition – November 17, 2010 at 17:00, Mundo B,
Cafe Kamilou, rue d’Edimbourg 26, 1050, Brussels
NOTES TO THE EDITORS:
-
WIDE is a European feminist network of women’s
organizations, development NGOs, gender specialists and women’s
rights activists. For 25 years, WIDE has dedicated itself to raising awareness,
monitoring and influencing international economic and development policies and
practices from a gender perspective, promoting women’s
rights as the basis for the development of a more just and democratic world
order. Find out more: www.wide-network.org
-
KARAT Coalition is a regional coalition of organizations
and individuals that works to ensure gender equality in the CEE/CIS countries,
monitors the implementation of international agreements and lobbies for the
needs and concerns of women in the region at all levels of decision-making
fora. More: www.karat.org
-
More information about the
project available at www.karat.org. Please do not hesitate to contact Ewa
Pintera: ewa.pintera@karat.org.pl or Marta Gontarska: marta.gontarska@karat.org.pl for more details.
-
Exhibition is the part of the
project “Through Their Eyes, Through Ours. Raising public
awareness about development problems faced by women from developing countries
in the EU Eastern Neighbourhood, Balkans and Central Asia”
produced with the financial assistance of the European Union. The content of
this project is the sole responsibility of KARAT and can in no way be taken to
reflect the views of the European Union.
For more information, please contact:
Natalie Giorgadze, WIDE: natalie@wide-network.org, give a call on +32 2 545 90 76 from Monday to Thursday,
or anytime on her cell phone +32 4 86831433
[i] First prize
winner: Mariam Amurvelashvili from Georgia, for her series of “Refugee
Mothers”; Second Prize winner: Elena Bazan from Belarus for her work “Birthday
Celebration at work”. The third prize winner: Olga Soselia-Tsiskarishvili
“Poverty Trap”, Georgia.
[ii] Data Gathering Tours:
selected participants from New EU member states took part in data gathering tours in the
countries of Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Balkans, where
they collected data allowing to create innovative awareness raising
materials targeting specific groups. The objective of this activity was to
increase social awareness in the new member states, particularly among groups
where awareness about the development problems faced by women from the
countries of Eastern Europe, Central Asia and the Balkans is low. The tours
took place in 2009.
[iii] The international
jury consisted of: Saba Amirejibi (film director from Georgia), Anna
Bedynska (photographer, from Poland and chair of the jury), Poupette Choque
(feminist activist, Belgium), Alexandar Metodijev (journalist, Macedonia) and
Valeria Zacharova (photographer, Slovakia).