May 8, 6 pm
Kuća Legata / Heritage House
Knez Mihailova 46, Belgrade
Curated by David Pujadó

It is odd in general for people, even for people that know rodeo, that when they hear about gay rodeo they’re perplexed because they are like…
what does that mean?
Chuck
I think the rodeo in itself is all-inclusive. It’s called the gay rodeo but
obviously one doesn’t have to be gay to compete.
Phil
I think what makes gay rodeo so different is that we help each other.
We’re a family.
Drew

The American West has been the home of many countercultures. Gay rodeo is one of them. Still marginal and little known, even among the gay community, it contradicts the prevailing idea of the cowboy, which does not include different roles or sexual identities. It was born out of discrimination in the 1970s but has become a chosen family for many who do not feel at home in regular rodeos and whose families still do not accept their sexual identities. The carnivalistic drag culture is an essential part of the gay rodeo and everyone is allowed to take part in any sport regardless of their gender.

This exhibition has been organised through the essential support of Frame Contemporary Art Finland, Finnish Cultural Fundation & Arts Promotion Center Finland that supports artist mobility, by which Finnish artist Karoliina Paatos is able to participate in Belgrade Photo Month Festival.

http://www.karoliinapaatos.com/

IMPORTANT:
Please note that due to the Covid-19 situation nobody can enter the Gallery without wearing a mask as required by the Rep of Serbia regulations.

Visiting hours:
Tue – Fri / 14 – 19h
Sat – Sun / 12 – 15h

May 8, 6 pm
Kuća Legata / Heritage House
Knez Mihailova 46, Belgrade

This is the 5th edition of our New Talents Contest, supported once again by Nikon Serbia, who have been with us since the 1st edition of the festival.

As with previous years, we have endeavoured to select a very eclectic jury team with 5 members: Paulina Anna Galanciak – President of the TIFF Collective Foundation, co-creator of the TIFF Festival, cultural animator, curator and photographer, Mikiko Kikuta – Artistic director of Shiogama Photography Festival in Miyagi and Setouchi International Photography Festival, Takamatsu in Japan and European Eyes on Japan/ Japan Today photography project and curator of Sado Island Galaxy Art Festival, Director of exhibitions for Kanzan gallery in Tokyo, Francesc Fàbregues – Photographer, member of the Promotion Committee of the National Plan for Photography of the Government of the Generalitat de Catalunya and Formentera Fotografica Festival Director, W.M.Hunt – Hunt is a champion of photography: a collector, curator and consultant. He teaches and lectures. He was on the board of the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund and has been head judge twice and finally, Branimir Karanović – Photographer and Professor of Photography.

This year, for the first time, we include in our awards list a special award for the best local project (Serbian) that will also form part of our exhibition. The jury had the very difficult task of selecting the best 3 projects and the best local project from the 141 proposals (50 more than the last edition) that met the conditions to be part of the contest. Almost 60% of proposals were sent by women and 40% by men, with applications arriving from 32 different countries. The countries with the highest amount of proposals were Serbia (30%), Russia (22%), Italy (10%) and Brazil (5%).

For years, photography has never ceased to be the closest medium for us to expressing opinions, capturing reality, commenting on it and even transforming it according to our own rules. It is often a tool for expressing emotions – anger, discord, frustration, hope. It also continues to be a fascinating element of recording reality and a kind of chronicle of memory. It is everywhere and can be anything. And what is interesting – due to this universalism it does not lose strength, on the contrary – it still gains it, it is constantly updating itself to the latest realities.

That is why competitions for young photographers are so fascinating. They let you see the power of photography that is constantly reborn. It is an incessant current that thrills those who want to express, show, remember, forget, emphasise. Be heard. Thanks to it, we can witness the stories portrayed in the images, and at the same time see what is currently important for young people. What they are busy with, what bothers them and, going further – how their culture affects their perception of reality. They are interested, which is very natural, in themselves and the time of change, maturing and entering adulthood in which they are immersed. It often relates to topics of sexuality, family, relationships, emotionality, memory. Many of them also look more broadly – at their society, politics, ecology, the lifestyle we undertake or the impact of technology on it; some of them wonder where we are going and what the future brings us.

It is fascinating to see how young people use photography to give strength to their own voice. How they take on this visual form to show us their opinion. How they want to be heard, appreciated, noticed. How they search and are not satisfied with the casual answers. How mature they are in their approach to art, but also to life in general. I am very grateful for the courage and strength they have. And for photography, which allows them to get away from tight and specific words and name everything that is close and important to them in a different way.

Paulina Anna Galanciak
President of the TIFF Collective Foundation,
co-creator of the TIFF Festival, cultural animator, curator and photographer

1ST PLACE
ЛЮБОВЬ РАКШИНА
Ljubov Rakšina born 25th March, 1996, in Samara, Russia.
Studied at the photo school of Kristina Syrchikova at Victoria Gallery.
The main idea behind the photography is based on the theme of privacy: a diary, projects on the person’s inner experiences, family stories, and feminist projects.
Lives and works in Samara.
rakschina.ru

2ND PLACE
MAXIME MATTHYS
Maxime Matthys (born 1995, Belgium) is a visual artist working and living between Rennes and Paris. He is developing an artistic practice using photography, performance, videography and installation. His work focuses on the way technologies are affecting our daily life and are shifting our perception of reality. While exploring new forms of narrative, he keeps documenting the important issues that are shaping our future.
His work has been multi-awarded and exhibited in France, Canada, Lithuania, Poland, Malaysia, Korea, United Kingdom, Indonesia, Spain and published in various magazines and newspapers such as Le Monde, Libération, Fisheye Magazine, Polka Magazine, Médiapart, ArtInfo, etc.
His most recent work 2091: The Ministry of Privacy has won the Kaunas Photo Award in Lithuania and was exhibited at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, February 2020.
maximematthys.com

3RD PLACE
КРИСТИНА СЕРГЕЕВА
My name is Kristina Sergeeva and I was born on 4/2/1996 in Saint Petersburg, Russia. I have been creating photographs since my school years and from 2017 I have been photographing at a more professional level. I graduated from the Academy of Photography in 2019.
I am an independent artist and have participated in a number of group exhibitions in Russia. I have devoted most of my photographic work to working on individual projects based on memory, PTSD, archival photographs, childhood, and the study of space and place.
kristina-sergeeva.ru

BEST LOCAL PROJECT
NAĐA REPMAN
Nadja Repman was born on February 14th, 2002 in Sombor, Serbia, where she is currently graduating from high school. She is actively involved in photography and videography. She was the official photographer of the 27th Theater Marathon 2019 and the 2nd Sombor Film Fest. She has captured a large number of photographs at various concerts, festivals and workshops (including concerts of the Music School, Terminal fest, ecological workshops in nature Planeta, Krigla fest and the 40th Sombor half marathon). She is currently engaged as a freelance photographer at the Sombor National Theater. She is primarily focused on authorial projects in the field of diverse visual arts.
@nadja.repman

IMPORTANT:
Please note that due to the Covid-19 situation nobody can enter the Gallery without wearing a mask as required by the Rep of Serbia regulations.

Visiting hours:
Tue – Fri / 14 – 19h
Sat – Sun / 12 – 15h

May 8, 6 pm
Kuća Legata / Heritage House
Knez Mihailova 46, Belgrade

Curated by David Pujadó

For the past year I’ve been following the extraordinary story of Nikola Stevanović, a 15-year old boy who is convinced he will be the first Olympic ski jumper from Serbia. He and his dedicated father have sacrificed everything to fulfil this dream.
Building handmade tracks, training on makeshift slopes with no gove-rnment support, the two are pursuing the Olympic dream despite the enormous sacrifices.
The father and son have let me into their lives and allowed me to see not just their unique training, but their personal lives in Serbia and now in Slovenia also, where Nikola is enrolled in school and is now training on the mountains.
I intend to follow them in preparation for the 2022 Olympics and present this early work for your consideration.
www.vladimirzivojinovic.com

IMPORTANT:
Please note that due to the Covid-19 situation nobody can enter the Gallery without wearing a mask as required by the Rep of Serbia regulations.

Visiting hours:
Tue – Fri / 14 – 19h
Sat – Sun / 12 – 15h

May 8, 6 pm
Kuća Legata / Heritage House
Knez Mihailova 46, Belgrade

The encounter with oneself is an inevitable act in any artistic creation. For a young person, that encounter is vague, uncertain and often elusive. Even during his studies at the Academy of Arts in Belgrade, Matej Milenković often searched for his own self in an attempt to understand, define and creatively present it. Through a system of trial and error, he came up with interesting and bold solutions that always revealed little, but suggested much more. Following the premise of the famous ancient poet Horace that the image is poetry without words, his photographs communicate on an associative, but never descriptive level. Most of the photographic series are accompanied by his poetic writings, which, along with the visual rhythm of the photographs, create the unity of image and word, sublimating a small narrative – something like a film sketch. Part of the exhibition is a video work for which the music was written by Aleksandar Ranđelović.

Matej also borrows fiction from film language, which he uses to talk about each of us in his series of photographs Astronaut, in search of the invisible, inaccessible, beyond the rational understanding of his own self, which tries to realise its existence within itself and the world around us. That endeavor in the beginning was doomed to failure because the realisation itself would mean the end. The end of the search, the question, the path. Isolated in a spacesuit, listening to his own breath, narrowed vision and limited movements, Astronaut moves in his own world, but is still deeply envious of everything that surrounds him, of everything that addresses him. Matej reduces this environment to two primary aspects – nature and faith. On the given and the culture. On what makes us human.

Curated by Ivana Tomanović
Professor, Academy of Arts, Novi Sad

IMPORTANT:
Please note that due to the Covid-19 situation nobody can enter the Gallery without wearing a mask as required by the Rep of Serbia regulations.

Visiting hours:
Tue – Fri / 14 – 19h
Sat – Sun / 12 – 15h

May 8, 6 pm
Kuća Legata / Heritage House
Knez Mihailova 46, Belgrade

Unspoken brings together portraits and testimonies of women and men from Spain, the United States and Mexico, who have suffered sexual abuse during childhood by family members, trusted people, priests and respected members of their community. For six years, Lorena Ros maintained a close relationship with these individuals. Through photographs and recordings of their testimonies, she encouraged them to share in public their traumatic experiences. In addition to this, she portrayed the places where the survivors suffered their abuse.

According to a study of Adverse Childhood Events, in western societies, 25% of women and 13% of men have been victims of sexual abuse before reaching the age of 17. Child sexual abuse is a crime that knows no socio-economic or cultural boundaries. What people who have suffered abuse have in common is guilt and the conviction instilled in them by their abusers that what happened should be kept secret. Although abuse is frequent and widespread, talking about it was taboo until a few years ago. Even today, after the Me Too movement aroused in western societies a global wave of awareness against the sexual harassment and sexual assault of women, in the rest of the world the issue is still shrouded in shame and its victims remain silent, forced to face their trauma and pain over and over again.
Curated by Natasha Christia

This exhibition has been organised through the essential support of Institut Ramon Llull that supports artist mobility, by which Catalan artist Lorena Ros is able to participate in Belgrade Photo Month Festival.

IMPORTANT:
Please note that due to the Covid-19 situation nobody can enter the Gallery without wearing a mask as required by the Rep of Serbia regulations.

Visiting hours:
Tue – Fri / 14 – 19h
Sat – Sun / 12 – 15h