ERASED GAZES ~ IZBRISANI POGLEDI

Aber Gendy, Ana Lora, Ivana Lukić, selma banich and Slavica Đuričić in collaboration with Ana Dana Beroš and Saša Nemec

City of Women, Old Power Station, Ljubljana, 2022

WORKSHOP series, MEMORIAL CANVAS AND EXHIBITION

To protest the injustices caused by the Erasure, marking its 30th anniversary, the Erased Gazes ~ Izbrisani pogledi memorial was made by the artistic collective of the Politics of Touch project initiated by the City of Women.

A group of women from many parts of the world, who today call Ljubljana, Logatec, and Zagreb their home, created a memorial canvas dedicated to the Erased during workshops led by selma banich between July and December 2022 in Slovenia and Croatia.

The memorial canvas was made of fabric rust-printed with objects harvested from the sites of past and present erasures (Krvova placa in Vinež, Metelkova in Ljubljana, Brodarski Institute in Zagreb), and slow-stitched, multicolored, collaboratively made eye-shaped embroidery that returns the gazes of the erased back to the world.

The ceremonial opening of the Erased Gazes ~ Izbrisani pogledi memorial was presented during the Myths and Medusas cycle organised by the City of Women at Old Power Station in Ljubljana in December 2022.

I dedicate the protest memorial canvas to all the victims of global systemic oppression, but especially to the victims of the administrative genocide of 1992. Erasure is still alive and appears daily in various discriminatory practices. For this reason, the canvas is commemorative and rebellious, but at the same time, for me, it also has the function of connection and empowerment. Its creation brought together extraordinary women who can be an inspiration to us all because of their unwavering strength. During the process of making the canvas, bonds were formed between us that reflect solidarity and love and instill courage and hope.

Protestno spominsko platno posvečam vsem žrtvam globalnega sistemskega zatiranja, predvsem pa žrtvam administrativnega genocida iz leta 1992. Izbris je še vedno živ in se vsakodnevno pojavlja v različnih diskriminatornih praksah. Iz tega razloga je platno spominsko in protestno, hkrati pa ima zame tudi funkciji povezovanja in opolnomočenja. Ustvarjanje le-tega je združilo izjemne ženske, ki so lahko zaradi svoje neomajne moči v navdih vsem nam. Med procesom izdelave platna so se med nami spletle vezi, ki odražajo solidarnost in ljubezen ter vlivajo pogum in upanje.

~ Ivana Lukić

I dedicate this work to the erased children because they were once pushed into a deep black pit by the authorities of the time, together with their parents, for no reason and without mercy. Even children carry the stains of erasure. It's not an unprecedented crime. We remember and are still watching you! We were oppressed, humiliated, spat on and robbed of our human rights.

I dedicate this work to the erased children because they were once pushed into a deep black pit by the authorities of the time, together with their parents, for no reason and without mercy. Even children carry the stains of erasure. It's not an unprecedented crime. We remember and are still watching you! We were oppressed, humiliated, spat on and robbed of our human rights.

~ Izbrisana / Erased

The memory carried by this canvas is the memory of six women who collected rusted objects around the city, the remains of erased public spaces, in order to draw attention to their own erasure. It is a memory of constant discussions, openings, confessions, conversations, laughter and crying, and a memory of a lost life of one of the erased women. It is persistent sewing, learning, checking each other's condition and thinking about what is sewn. It speaks of the sisterhood of all who got their hands on it and sewed their own unique expression into it. It tells the story of the journey to Zagreb, of the journey to the asylum center in Logatec, of the meeting at the premises of the Red Cross. It speaks of our journey and their journey at the same time. The prints and views on this canvas extend beyond its frame, stretching from us who created it to those for whom it is intended, the eyes staring as if from a cavernous past in warning and admonition. We have sewn into it with threads our sisterhood, which is always open to another new stitch. While we have made the erasure visible, eternal and as a warning that our knowledge of it will never be erased, we have sewn ourselves into it above all.

Spomin, ki ga nosi to platno, je spomin na šest žensk, ki so po mestu nabirale zarjavele predmete, ostanke izbrisanih javnih prostorov, da bi z njimi opozorile na svoj lasten izbris. Je spomin na nenehne diskusije, odpiranja, izpovedi, pogovore, smeh in jok ter spomin na izgubljeno življenje ene izmed njih. Je vztrajno šivanje, učenje, medsebojno preverjanje počutja in premišljevanje o všitem. Govori o sestrstvu vseh, ki so ga dobile pod roke in vanj všile svoj edinstven izraz. Govori zgodbe o poti do Zagreba, o poti do azilnega doma v Logatcu, o srečanju v prostorih Rdečega križa. Govori o naši poti in njihovi hkrati. Odtisi in pogledi tega platna segajo izven njegovih okvirjev, raztezajo se med nas, ki smo ga ustvarile, do tistih, katerim je namenjen, njegove oči kot iz jamske preteklosti zrejo v sedanjost - v opozorilo in opomin. Z nitmi smo vanj všile našo sestrsko skupnost, ki je vedno odprta za še en nov šiv. Medtem ko smo izbrisu dajale vidost, ga vpisale v večnost in z njim opozorile, da naša vednost o njem ne bo nikoli izbrisana, pa smo vanj všile predvsem sebe. 

~ Ana Lora

Credits and links

Artistic collective / Umetniški kolektiv:

Aber Gendy, Aleksandra Todorović Novak, Ana Dana Beroš, Ana Lora, Etaf Alburai, Hanade, Ivana Lukić, Islam Amra, Julija M., Mahedina Jannat, Mirjana Učakar, Mubera Maslić-Ždralović, Najma Abdullahi Haashi, Natalia Petkova, Nela, Nibal A., Nibal K., Oksana Sytnyk, Parasto Namami, Samar, Sanaa, Saša Nemec, Sawsan, selma banich, Slavica Đuričić, Somayeh Asadpour, Svetlana Zyma, and/in Valentina Tonozova 

Exhibition design / Oblikovanje razstave: Ana Dana Beroš

Light design / Oblikovanje svetlobe: Bojan Gagić

Construction / Konstrukcija: Miha Zupan

Devised and curated by / Zasnova in kuriranje: selma banich

Production / Producentka: Saša Nemec

Organisation: City of Women as part of the European project BE PART co-funded by the Creative Europe Programme of the European Union; co-organisation: Old Power Station, Zavod Emma, Slovenian Red Cross¹, Centre for Women War Victims – Rosa (Zagreb); support: Creative Europe, Ministry of Public Administration, Municipality of Ljubljana, JSKD. / Organizacija: Mesto žensk v okviru evropskega projekta BE PART, ki ga sofinancira program Evropske unije Ustvarjalna Evropa; soorganizacija: Stara mestna elektrarna, Zavod Emma, Rdeči križ Slovenije¹, Center za ženske žrtve vojne – Rosa (Zagreb); podpora: Ustvarjalna Evropa, Ministrstvo za javno upravo, Mestna občina Ljubljana, JSKD.

We would like to express our eternal gratitude to Mirjana Učakar (1953–2022). 

Svojo večno hvaležnost želimo izraziti Mirjani Učakar (1953–2022).

Heartfelt thanks to Tija Jerkič and Mubera Maslić-Ždralović.

Iskreno se zahvaljujemo tudi Tiji Jerkič in Muberi Maslić-Ždralović.

READ Izbrisani pogledi by Ana Lorger (Mesto žensk, 2023)

Photo: Nada Žgank, Aleš Černivec, and selma banich (Erased Gazes, 2022)

Cover photo: selma banich (Erased Gazes, 2022)

+ City of Women

+ Zavod Emma

+ Centre for Women War Victims – Rosa

¹ The project participants express their personal experience and opinion, which is not necessarily the opinion of the Red Cross of Slovenia. / Udeleženke projekta izražajo osebno izkušnjo in mnenje, ki ni nujno mnenje Rdečega križa Slovenije.