Floodlit Room – Women’s Photographic Practice in Croatia

One exhibition in two locations, curated by Sandra Križić Roban

Nikola Tesla Technical Museum: 24.10.-3.12.2023

The Ethnographical Museum, Zagreb: 26.10-25.11.2023

In the history of Croatian photography, the women’s photographic gaze was generally not considered challenging, and there was a prevailing belief that women often operated within a safe comfort zone. The common perception that they mostly photographed portraits, landscapes, and children, as well as the idea that they were alone and unprotected while shooting, led some critics to interpret their works in an extremely traditional, even paternalistic manner. The intention of the exhibition Floodlit Room – Women’s Photographic Practice in Croatia is to point out the limitations within which women’s photographic practice has taken place, the obstacles faced by the artists, and the importance and breadth of the meaning of photography as a unique medium upon which knowledge of both collective and individual contexts depends. The exhibition is organized in two parts, one revealing historical establishment of the scene, up to the contemporary experiments with the media, conceptual works, documentary photographs and research. A segment of the exhibition titled Conflict (at The Ethnographical Museum, Zagreb) encompasses works by several women artists who have photographically interpreted not only the wartime destruction during World War II and the Homeland War but also other types of crisis situations that need to be discussed in the context of a more comprehensive representation of the women’s gaze.

More information about the exhibition at Nikola Tesla Technical Museum is here.

More information about the exhibition at The Ethnographical Museum, Zagreb is here.

Fast Forward: Women in Photography Conference 4: Women, Photography, Conflict is part of the exhibitions programme, and, it will take place on November 16-17, 2023 at Nikola Tesla Technical Museum.