Who are the women who paved the way for women’s rights, freedom and creativity in Serbia? Do we know enough about their work, achievements and struggles they had to go through? What Serbian public knows about this part of our cultural heritage?
The exhibition “Great Women of Serbian Culture” will be opened in the House of Jevrem Grujić in Belgrade, 17 Svetogorska Street, on Thursday, January 20th, 2022, at 11 am. The exhibition will present 18 exceptional women of Serbian history, whose professional background and personal achievements influenced Serbian culture and society as a whole. The exhibition is supported by the Ministry of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia, the Secretariat for Culture of the City of Belgrade and the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality.
The authors of the exhibition are Branka Conić, the Director of the House of Jevrem Grujić, Gordana Bekčić, Director of the Office for Cultural Diplomacy and Ružica Opačić, art historian. The exhibition will be opened by the Minister of Culture and Information of the Republic of Serbia, Maja Gojković. The partners of the exhibition are the Museum of the City of Belgrade, Pavle Beljanksi Memorial Collection, Milena Pavlović Barili Gallery, Nadežda Petrović Art Gallery, SANU Gallery, SANU Musicological Institute, Museum of Theater Arts of Serbia, Valjevo National Museum, Svetozar Marković University Library, Desanka Maksimović Endowment, Galleries X Vitamin, HQ and B2, private collections, as well as Matica Srpska and “What a Woman!”. Often marginalized and forgotten, these 18 women paved the way for generations of women to become painters, writers, doctors, scientists, philosophers, women rights activists. These were both nurses and warriors, with medals and ranks, in many ways the first in their city, country, and even Europe. The first to study, the first with a diploma, the first doctoral students, the first writers, painters, managers, members of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, the first founders of art associations and societies for the protection of women. Always patriots, they often balanced between the struggle for personal realization and the restrictions and prejudices of the patriarchal society. Too often they remained misunderstood in the struggle for the realization of their personal, artistic and social goals.
The aim of the project “Great Women of Serbian Culture” and this exhibition is to increase the visibility of women’s cultural heritage, which has enabled women to occupy the highest positions in our culture and society. Their perseverance, steadfastness, strength to carry out their vocation was an insurmountable force and flame that have changed Serbian society, and in which they themselves often burned. Often celebrated abroad, they were misunderstood in their own country, often in the fight against patriarchal stereotypes, bureaucracy and unwritten rules. Some of them were celebrated, but most of them did not receive respect and recognition. Milica Stojadinović Srpkinja, Mina Karadžić, Poleksija Todorović, Draga Ljočić, Beta Vukanović, Nadežda Petrović, Isidora Sekulić, Jelisaveta Načić, Marija Maga Magazinović, Vidosava Kovačević, Anica Savić Rebac, Zora Petrović, Desanka Maksimović, Leposava St. Pavlović, Milena Pavlović Barili, Ljubica Marić, Ljubica Cuca Sokić and Soja Jovanović will tell the visitors of the exhibition their life stories, destinies and achievements. Let’s not forget them, because they are great.
At the exhibition you will be able to see a large selection of personal items of our greats, such as the violin of our first Serbian female composer Ljubica Marić, whose works were performed by the world’s most respectable orchestras, personal items of Milena Pavlović Barili, the famous hat of Desanka Maksimović and similar items.
The exhibition will be opened from January 20th to March 27, 2022. The working hours of the House of Jevrem Grujić are on Thursdays and Fridays from 3 pm to 8 pm and on Saturdays from 11 am to 4 pm.
During the exhibition, there will be numerous lectures, plays, performances and themed evenings, inspired by the biographies of these women.
Welcome!
House of Jevrem Grujić and the Office for Cultural Diplomacy