Exhibitions

Nastassja Nefjodov’s “Why being quiet is so loud” is an immersive multimedia installation including photographs, audio, video, text, poems and archive material. It is a combination of different chapters of her ongoing work on the dynamics of post-conflict and generational trauma. 

She is using fragments from her grandfather’s stories who were fighting against each other in WWII; her German Jewish grandmothers story, who fled Berlin in 1939 and survived the war in Switzerland; her parents love story which unfolded on highly politicized grounds and her own upbringing in a cross-iron-curtain family during the Cold War and her Serbian partner’s story, who happened to have his military service during the Croatian war and came back highly traumatized. 

Navigating through all these stories she is researching: what does stories of loved ones are doing to someone who has not experienced the war herself? And how inherited trauma is impacting families and intimate relationships long after the conflict is over?

By telling European history via her personal family stories, she strips it from political aspects and direct the focus on the emotional layer. She invites people to rethink history from a perspective of what it does to people, not only in the moment, but for generations, as a second part of the story. She wants to contribute to the normalization of talking about trauma and 
turning towards healing. By sharing personal stories to cope with and resolve her and her family’s pain she not only wants to help people access their own stories but encourage them to also tell theirs. She sees this as a way out of the spiral of violence and passing the pain, fostering connection in a world often marked by silence.

Co-curated with Claudia Partac @claudia_partac  

nefjodov.nl • @nnefjodov

Mon – Sat 11 – 19h

For the first time, we’ve decided to host a proper Screening Night — and by “proper,” we mean at least it happens in the evening!
Our idea was to show around 20 photography projects connected to the topic of BPM 2025: postconflict.

In August, we launched an open call, and by the deadline, we had received 179 submissions that met all the official criteria. These came from all over the world — seriously, it felt like a global group chat. From those 179, BPM has carefully selected 24 outstanding projects for our very first Screening Night.

These 24 projects couldn’t be more different from one another — different styles, different stories, different ways of tackling the same big theme. Are you ready?

We’ll be waiting for you! Just come by, grab a seat, pour yourself a glass of wine (or a beer — we’re not judging), and enjoy the show!

List of participants:
Andrey Semenov
Anna Kevrel
Anna Poloneeva
Davide Gualtieri
Denis Begletz
Isolda Singer
Jean-Yves Gauze
Jens Romanski 
Jonk
Karina Claramunt
Karina Dilan
Katerina Kouzmitcheva
Laura Prochilo
Linette Lin
Maija Bondar
Maria Kolesnikova
Matevž Čebašek
Rodrigo Illescas
Sergey Poteryaev
Shams Radwan
Tatiana Sikorskaya
Viktor Barkhatov
Yuehan Hao
Yusif Zadeh

Photography @Rodrigo Illescas

The group exhibition of the 12th edition of Photon’s International Photography Competition, Different Worlds 2024, presents a compelling selection of ten finalists from Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), offering insight into the latest trends in contemporary photography. This exhibition showcases the creativity, originality, and conceptual depth of emerging photographers under 35 years of age, who challenge and expand the boundaries of the photographic medium. While the competition does not have a prescribed theme, the final selection often includes works spanning a wide range of photographic and photography-related practices.
Through diverse themes and approaches, the selected artists navigate topics ranging from personal and collective memory to social issues, identity, and the interplay between technology and tradition. Their use of photography extends beyond documentation, and in some cases incorporates experimental techniques. This year’s finalists present a rich spectrum of visual narratives that reflect on the contemporary condition.
Selected by a four-member international jury composed of professionals and key figures in the field of photography, the finalists’ works stand out for their strong artistic voices and innovative approaches. This exhibition was first shown at Photon Gallery in Ljubljana at the end of 2024.

Finalists: 
1st prize: Olja Simčič Jerele (SI)
2nd prize: Anna Gajewszky (HU)
3rd prize: Dorka Székely (HU)
Áron Tóth-Heyn (HU), Filip Jakubowski (PL), Patrícia Koroknai (HU), Marija Mandić (RS), Artur Procházka (SK), Márk Péter Szabó (HU), Tim Topić (SI).

Mon – Fri 10 – 16h

The cycle is a personal story about a journey. The images, which make up a cycle, show reality from the perspective of a Traveler, who, by penetrating the strange and incomprehensible world of Africa, tries to uncover universal truths about life, death, rebirth and transformation. The attempt to enter the invisible dimension of spirituality and immortality occurs through an exploration of images of emptiness and abandoned, neglected and ruined 
sites interwoven with shots of organic structures, decaying animal matter and objects of a sacred nature. 

Although the series is the result of the author’s fascination with original beliefs, spirituality, rituals, and worship of nature, it does not have an ethnographic aspect. The places captured in the images cannot be specifically identified, which serves to emphasize the superiority of ideas over reality. The images are like blocks. Anima encourages one to seek, but does not promise that the path will be a straightforward. 

The pictures were taken between 2005 and 2013 during numerous trips Africa continent, spanning such countries as Algeria, Benin, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Mali, Morocco, Republic of South Africa, Rwanda, Senegal, Swaziland, Tanzania and Uganda.

This exhibition is made possible thanks to the Polish Institute in Belgrade.

hueckel.com.pl • @magdalena_hueckel

Mon – Sat 11 – 19h

BETONIUM, created by Katerina Kouzmitcheva, investigates the relationship between contemporary identity and architectural heritage in Central and Eastern Europe, focusing on the legacy of prefabricated residential blocks as instruments of urban control and ideological power. The project explores how these structures, shaped by the policies of former regimes, have influenced the collective identity of their inhabitants. 
Through artistic interventions—including conceptual actions in urban spaces, photography, performances, and collages—BETONIUM reveals the synthesis of historical and contemporary realities embedded in these environments. By creating “moving human sculptures,” the project metaphorically reflects the ideological influence on individuals, while photographic works capture the architectural commonalities across different countries. A key element of the project involves transposing images of panel-block facades from one country into another, forming a universal, imagined cityscape. These compositions highlight both the shared and divergent experiences of those living in these spaces. 
Spanning 11 countries, including Poland, Slovakia, Georgia, Estonia, Serbia, and Belarus, BETONIUM documents everyday life in panel housing estates, presenting an intimate yet critical perspective. Combining personal experience with research, Kouzmitcheva challenges perceptions of postsocialist architecture, revealing its role in shaping a unique cultural identity distinct from, yet equal to, its Western counterparts.
This exhibition is made possible thanks to the Polish Institute in Belgrade and is part of the BINA Festival.
katerinakouzmitcheva.com • @katerina_kouzmitcheva
Mon – Sat 11 – 19h

Woman with a Monkey – Afterimages of the History I Witnessed
(Afterimage definition: A visual or mental sensation that persists 
after the original stimulus has ended)

The selection of images presented is rooted in various projects I made over the year. They represent my approach to news photography, which I prefer to label as documentary. Document serves beyond current events and day-to-day information. It documents not just certain events but fixates on the mood of a historical moment; it is not literal and does not require logic or explanatory elements typical of straightforward reporting. My work reflects the prevailing mood of the time and place. Most often, it is located away from a central event or at the edges of the main focus, becoming afterimage of it. Mixing personal with impersonal, that work is about dreams—imagined, lost, or transformed after the handshakes of politicians are completed for 
the media. A photographer, when an artist, is a storyteller—rather than a mechanical recorder of events and life, sifting through an endless space full of information and extracting its own message out of it. The photographer’s eye is a curating one ; the photograph itself is not an explanation but a note, a color, or a shape reflecting the experience of the modern man.

This exhibition is made possible thanks to the Polish Institute in Belgrade.

justmiel.com • @justmiel

Mon – Sat 11 – 19h

From Italy to Sweden, from Romania to Portugal: In recent months, portraits of nearly 100 victims of child abuse have been collected throughout Europe. Never has the dimension of the problem been captured in this way. Photos and videos from award-winning journalist Simone Padovani documenting 
the injustices now give the victims a voice. The “SHAME – European Stories” exhibition is a traveling exhibition that has been presented across Europe, bringing to light the stories of those who have survived abuse. To date, it has been on show in more than 15 European cities and has also been hosted at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg. Belgrade Month of Photography now integrates Belgrade into this significant initiative.

The objectives of this exhibition are to raise awareness, to promote legislative changes, to break the silence, the stigmatisation, the impunity, the cover-up and even the complicity. The exhibition is organised by the Guido Fluri Foundation (Switzerland) and Justice Initiative, featuring the 
photography and videos of Simone Padovani.

Simone Padovani is an award-winning Italian photojournalist contributing to international agencies such as Getty Images and Universal Pictures. His work has been published in globally recognized media outlets, including The New York Times, National Geographic, The Guardian, Der Spiegel, Focus, 
among others.

simonepadovani.it • @simonpadovani •  justice-initiative.eu/exhibition

Tue – Fri 14 – 19h
Sat – Sun 12 – 15h

Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche, Buddhist monk and meditation teacher, dubbed “the world’s happiest person” by Time and National Geographic magazines, says that every creature wants to escape suffering and find happiness. However, suffering and tragedies still exist (and probably always will, as they are part and parcel of life, should we once again refer to Buddhism). Yet, this year’s Belgrade Photo Month wants to address the notion of Postconflict. According to Cambridge dictionary, conflict is “a situation in which beliefs, needs, facts, etc. are very different and cannot easily exist together or both be true.” But what happens after the conflict? 

The festival participants will explore the topic of post-conflict from various perspectives, starting from the inner state of postconflict, showcasing journeys of overcoming trauma and depicting personal resilience and strength. The festival’s flagship project that will explore this topic is I Drink by Canadian photographer Kourtney Roy. The theme will also explore social postconflict that arises from communication between oneself and others. The works will show the efforts to rebuild social fabric and highlight the stories of reconciliation, healing and re-building of trust among people. 

Political postconflict will be presented through projects that document the aftermath of wars, revolutions, and political upheavals or capture the reconstruction of societies, challenges of peacebuilding and restoration of civil order. Economic post-conflict will illustrate the revival of economies and livelihoods after financial crises or destructive events, as well as the examination of the role of innovation, adaptation, and community support during economic recovery. Environmental post-conflict will explore the results of conflicts between human beings, nature and other inhabitants of the Earth. It will address the recovery of ecosystems after natural and human-induced disasters and showcase the efforts to heal the environment.

What will remain after the conflict? The answer to this question is to be found by each and every human being on their own. Will every single person, individually, and the world in general, find inner strength and compassion to transform conflict into a postconflict with positive outcome? We shall see.

Tatyana Valova

We would like to welcome you to our 7th edition of the festival and we hope that you will be interested in the programme that we have prepared for this year.

• New Talents 2025. Emanuel Constantino, Luuk van Raamsdonk, Nađa Repman, Stanisław Świtała
• Bragi Þór Jósefsson. Iceland Defense Force
• Kourtney Roy. I Drink – New Orleans
• Marija Ćalić. Neurorezevoar
• Martina Havlová. Tajina
• Katarina Marković – In Passing

This is the 7th edition of our New Talents Contest. As in previous years, we have endeavoured to assemble a highly eclectic jury team, consisting of five members:
• Dušan Kochol – Founder, director, and curator of the contemporary photography festival OFF Bratislava 
(established in 2010) and the contemporary photography gallery FOG Bratislava (established in 2020). 
• Isabel Lázaro – Art historian and cultural manager, director and founder of Art Photo Bcn, a photography festival and fair in Barcelona. 
• Jelena Janković – Photographer and visual artist from Belgrade with a strong creative vision. Since 2023, she has been the programme director of the Sarajevo Photography Festival. 
• Simone Azzoni – Art critic and lecturer in History of Contemporary Art at IUSVE. He teaches Visual Arts Aesthetics at the Santa Giulia Academy of Fine Arts and Critical Reading of the Image and History of Art at the Palladio Institute of Design. He is also the founder and artistic director of Grenze – Arsenali Fotografici. 
• Špela Pipan – Curator and project manager at Photon Gallery (Ljubljana, Vienna), specialising in modern and contemporary photography.

The jury faced the challenging task of selecting the three best projects, as well as the best local project, from among the 55 submissions that met the contest criteria. Nearly 55% of the proposals were submitted by women and 45% by men, with applications coming from 26 different countries. The countries with the highest number of submissions were Russia (21%), Serbia (7%), and China (7%)

Postconflict time does not bring complete peace. It carries silence, but also the indelible traces of conflict— in space, in bodies, in memory. In that fragile moment between past and future, photographers find both inspiration and responsibility. For the seventh year, we are organizing our Young Talents competition, and this time, through photography, we search for and explore the question of post-conflict.

Young authors turn to what remains—silence, trauma, and attempts at renewal. Their approach is both artistic and investigative: they combine personal narratives, collective memory, and contemporary visual language to portray the complexity of life after conflict.

While some explore themes of familial and collective memory through abandoned spaces and archival materials, others use the landscape as a silent witness to history. Some depict the everyday lives marked by the invisible legacy of violence, while others examine broader social conflicts and injustices that go beyond the traditional understanding of war.

Their photographs are not merely images of the past, but attempts at connection—between people, time, and space. Through their work, post-conflict is not seen as an end, but as an ongoing process of learning, understanding, and healing.

In a world that so easily forgets, young photographers remind us how important it is to look back—not to remain in the past, but to truly understand it. And that art can be both an act of remembrance and an act of hope.

Ana Šćepanović

EMANUEL CONSTANTINO
Emanuel Constantino (2002) is an independent photographer from Portugal, currently based in Porto. He holds a degree in Photography from the School of Media Arts and Design at P.Porto and is currently pursuing a Master’s Degree in Cinema and Photography, specialising in Photography, at the same 
institution. Emanuel is drawn to the practical process of analogue photography and the unpredictability of its results. His main research and artistic focus lies at the intersection of documentary and fiction, exploring the point where one transitions into the other. He also engages with vernacular and archival photography, 
often integrating these elements into his projects. Emanuel has regularly presented his work in exhibitions and presentations, won CEFT’s Open Call Photography and Territory, was selected for the 2nd IPMA Festival, and has been nominated as a new talent for FUTURES 2025 by Bienal Fotografia do Porto.
emanuelconstantino.com • @econstantinoo

We want to thank the Embassy of Portugal in Belgrade and Instituto Camões for their continued support for BPM and photography, and especially for making it possible for Emanuel to be in Belgrade.

LUUK VAN RAAMSDONK
Luuk van Raamsdonk (2001) is a lens-based artist and researcher based in Breda, Netherlands. He graduated from St. Joost School of Arts & Design in 2024 with a BA in Photography. Luuk’s work seeks to uncover and understand the mysteries of the world around him, using lens-based media as a tool for investigation, questioning, and deconstruction. He combines the historical and archival qualities of photography with a contemporary approach. 
Themes of (family) history, identity, trauma, and the human-nature relationship frequently appear in his practice, which he translates into deeply personal, long-term projects characterised by multidisciplinary installations and black-and-white imagery. His practice is rooted in research, driven by curiosity and experimentation, as he constantly searches for new ways to question the known and visualise the unknown. He is also a member of COHEISA, an audio-visual artist collective based in Breda.
luukvanraamsdonk.com • @lvr.aka.shiro

We would like to thank the Embassy of the Netherlands in Belgrade for supporting BPM, photography, and especially for making it possible for Luuk to be in Belgrade – this is not the first time, as they already supported a New Talents winner some years ago.

NAĐA REPMAN
Nađa Repman (2002) was born in Sombor, where she developed her love for the arts early on, completing both elementary and music school before graduating from high school. She has since focused on video and photography, earning a degree in Cinematography from the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad in 2024 
and is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Photography. During her studies, Nađa participated in the Erasmus+ student exchange programme, spending a semester at the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb. Her work explores the delicate nature of space, identity, and borders—both physical and those shaped by 
time and memory. Borders divide landscapes and create complex layers of history, yet they also hold the potential for quiet transformation. Through a blend of documentary and artistic techniques, she captures traces of what was, what remains, and what continues to evolve. Her work invites reflection on how borders remain active and are still defined by past conflicts, even as violence and tension subside.
@nadja.repman

STANISŁAW ŚWITAŁA
Stanisław Świtała (2002) is a graphic artist studying at the Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Art and Design in 
Wrocław, at the Faculty of Graphic Arts. Working in the intaglio studio under Professor Przemysław Tyszkiewicz 
and Agata Gertchen, they focus on etching techniques and drawing. Their graphic works incorporate abstract 
motifs, creating visual depth in their images. They are also involved in documentary photography and poster 
design, receiving a distinction in this year’s AMS competition.
stanislawswitala.com

Tue – Sun 12 – 20h

BRAGI ÞÓR JÓSEFSSON
Odbrambene snage Islanda • Iceland Defense Force
Curated by David Pujado

American soldiers first came to Iceland in 1941, before the United States declared war on Germany and Japan, and constructed the headquarters for their military activity at a barren and desolate location in the southwest corner of the country. The base was one of hundreds of such bases that the Americans established all over the world during the Cold War. For 55 years, from 1951 until 2006, the base at Keflavik was one of the American army’s most important North Atlantic bases. However, following the end 
of the Cold War, the United States’ new foreign affairs policies made the base unnecessary and the base was abandoned.
The photographer Bragi Þór Jósefsson visited the deserted town shortly after the Americans left and just before Icelanders started to renovate it for their own needs. The buildings had fulfilled their original purposes, but it was as if they were still waiting for their former owners to return. Traces of these inhabitants had all but disappeared, and the future of the town was still undecided. It was a strange sight; An American town, complete with supermarkets, a hospital, football field and a cinema, standing and awaiting its destiny on a desolute icelandic moor.
bragi.is • @bragithor_photo
Tue – Sun 12 – 20h