Speaking out exhibition

The exhibition is entirely dedicated to, and co-produced with, women survivors of war-time sexual violence and children born of war, and aimed to point out the multiple problems these people face. Visitors to the exhibition had the opportunity to see the works of women who survived wartime sexual violence, which were created using the body mapping method, personal items of children born of war, as well as clips from video testimonies of survivors and children.

The exhibition in Mostar was set up in the Mostar Cultural Center (13 Rade Bitange Street) and was open from September 20 to 27.

The presentation of the “Speaking Out” exhibition at Enžio HAB in Belgrade was implemented from October 2 to 8 during the thematic week dedicated to the problem of sexual violence in war, which is carried out within the project “Strengthening the voices of women affected by war-time sexual and gender-based violence in the Western Balkans”.

The Youth Initiative for Human Rights Serbia, “Viva Žene” Tuzla, Medica Zenica, Medica Djakova, Kosovo Center for Rehabilitation of Torture Victims, Autonomous Women’s Center and Women in Black Serbia participated in the implementation of this project, with the support of Medica Mondiale, Engagement Global and the Federal Ministry of economic cooperation and development of the Republic of Germany (BMZ).

“MY MOTHER’S CHILD”

Her smile in the photo shows her strength. The grip of her hand as she watches over me shows the strength of motherhood. The way she looks at me doesn’t show hatred and resistance, her look in the picture is a look of the future. Today, she and I are building that future together, and many others who feel the burden of the past, but do not want to pass it on to future generations.

My whole life was marked by the name of the person who harmed my mother. I am marked by a human condition that I knew nothing about, and still don’t want to know. I’m separated from society, even though I haven’t done anything wrong. I carried the burden of shame, and to this day I don’t know what is shameful about my birth. I carried the burden of a society that did not have the courage to look in the mirror. I wore the label of a brat, because someone before me chose evil.

I am not the child of an evil man, I am the child of my mother. I am not a child of hatred, I am a child who grew up with the love of my mother and stepfather, the love of my family. I am not a child of shame, I am a child who saw the future in her mother’s eyes, and is building that future today. I am the child who will do everything I can to prevent our children from going through what happened to us.

I am my mother’s child.

Ajna, 1993.