WUNRN

http://www.wunrn.com

 

http://www.wide-network.org/

 

EASTERN EUROPE, BALKANS, CAUCASUS, CENTRAL ASIA

 

PHOTOS OF WOMEN, BY WOMEN - EXHIBITION - "THROUGH THEIR EYES"

 

Picture2.jpgPRESS 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 womens 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 womens changing lives in the region.

Natalie Giorgadze (WIDE): This exhibition undermines existing stereotypes and shows the diversity of womens lives. The photographs depict womens 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 publics 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 dEdimbourg 26, 1050, Brussels

NOTES TO THE EDITORS:

-    WIDE is a European feminist network of womens organizations, development NGOs, gender specialists and womens 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 womens 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

 

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[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).