Feminist resistances to patriarchal violence and oppressive structures

To mark the International Day for Elimination of Violence Against Women and as part of the project BUlgarian Diaspora Network Initiative (BUDNI), which we have launched with the support of the European Solidarity Corps, we are organising an exhibition which focuses on artwork and interventions that seek to ​give ​visibility to the struggles of migrant wom*n in Berlin and their ​forms of political resistance​. We would like to challenge the stereotypical image of the migrant wom*n as a faceless and homogenised “victim” who stands in direct opposition to the strong and independent (non-migrant) feminist and give them a platform to put new topics on the table using their own voice.

We want to ​expand the concept of violence in order to ​look at the larger structures which serve to control, discipline and punish beyond what may be perceived as an individual experience.

Moreover, we want to gather works from artists who explore how the ​personal and the political merge and nurture each other mutually within the realm of wom*n activism and how the boundaries between ​individual and collective struggles are often hard to trace. Finally, we want to visualise how queer and female bodies continue being used as ​ideological battlefields​, especially when they are seen within the global context of rising right-wing populism and conservative values, and how these same bodies resist, ​challenge and deconstruct existing structures​.

Submission deadline​: 27 October 2019
Contact and application:​ ​fembunt@gmail.com
Location:​ Berlin, Klub der polnischen Versager

Exhibition:​ Last two weeks of November

The Berlin-based feminist collective ​FemBunt run by Bulgarian wom*n is calling for WLTIQ* visual artists who have experienced migration first-hand and incorporate feminist themes in their work and explore ​forms of resistance to oppressive structures. We comprehend these structures to extend far beyond what could be vaguely called “the patriarchy” and which can be observed and analysed at the intersection where origin, nationality, colour, class, sex, gender, sexuality, age, religion and other social markers, interact and reinforce each other.

APPLICATION PROCESS

Contributors are asked to send a short email to fembunt@gmail.com with a presentation of themselves, as well as links to their website/social media, and pictures/ videos/ description of the piece(s) they plan to participate with. The medium can be freely chosen – photography, video, painting, sculpture, textile, performance etc. All artists can submit up to three pieces. All applicants will receive a reply by 6 November 2019.

Note: Since our project has limited financial support for the organisation and logistics of the exhibition the participation of all selected artists is expected to be completely voluntary, however small reimbursements to cover costs associated with the transportation and presentation of the artwork will be granted on an individual basis where needed.

WLTIQ* = women, lesbians, trans, intersex and queer* people.