A teenage boy calls in to an online radio show, where he discusses the challenges of toxic masculinity in his prejudiced community. As he shares his life issues, the teen has an unexpected on-air encounter with his former best friend, who has since become his bully and bullied.
The text of the play explores the themes of identity, acceptance and the transformative nature of open dialog. The play is a collage of writings by several teenagers from Romania and is the result of creative workshops of expression through writing and video.
Show produced with the Improbabil Theater
The photographic installation „Those who cannot be seen” aims to bring fiction into reality. 10 female characters from Romanian literature, created by men, step out of the lines and are seen through the lens of 10 female photographers. The works are signed by photographers Anca Cernoschi, Crina Prida, Cristina Venedict, Dana Tole, Larisa Baltă, Mihaela Tulea, Sabina Suru, Alina Ușurelu, Irina Gache, Cristina Bobe.
„Those Who Cannot See Themselves” initiates an endeavor to give voice to the female characters from the great literary works written by male authors, in the context of the extremely poor representation of Romanian women writers in school textbooks and of a mostly two-dimensional image of women's roles in Romanian society. The 10 chosen female characters invite to be seen in depth, in a new light, detached from stereotypes and serve as role models for young adult girls, who can understand that they can be listened to and have an impact in the social environment similar to that of a boy.
10 female photographers from Romania approached 10 literary works with female characters, together with 3 actresses, representing all the chosen characters, at three different ages, to highlight the archetypes contained in each woman and the empathic understanding, regardless of background, of the trauma and life of any character.
The photographic installation „Those who can't be seen” was exhibited at the Aquarium Hall of the National Museum of the Romanian Peasant, at the Casa Tineretului Timisoara and ParkLake Shopping Center Bucharest.
Who is your mom when she's not just your mom? Who is your mother to you when no one can hear you, what do you tell yourself about the man you know too well not to judge, have seen too much to close your critical eye and know too well to give a second thought to who he really is. But who is she, besides your mother? And what part of her have you become, what part of you is still with her?
The exhibition reflects the mirroring of the bond between mother and daughter, interrogating the transgenerational legacies that accompany them.
The process by which the exhibition took shape consisted of a series of meetings between the mother-daughter pairs and photographer Bogdan Dincă, together with actors Denisa Nicolae and Liviu Romanescu. The discussions took as their starting point the letter the daughter or mother wrote to the other person. The exhibition reflects the encounters of 14 mother-daughter pairs.
An exhibition about inner dialog, questions, answers and naked thoughts.
By Vanner Collective with Bogdan Dincă
