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Here you will find stories of our participants, they made in training.
DIFFERENT?
Aljoša and Miranda Škaper
We are showing the entanglement of situations in our partnership, which either arise on their own, or in which we put ourselves, and the relationship established as a result. The situations often come close to some sort of human normality or normative, such as we imagine a couple fits; yet, as a mixed couple, we are too often faced with unnecessary questions about our intimate lives and about what we are able to do. In our series, we are trying to show that we are a typical couple in atypical situations, different from the rest just like the rest of you are different from us.
Urša Tonejec
Not/overly/special/? Not overly/kind? Not/overly/punctual? Not/overly/pesky? Not/overly/complicated? Not/overly/realistic? Not/overly/diligent? Not/overly/loving? Not/overly/funny? Not/overly/cute? Not/overly/sombre? Not/overly/fun? Not/overly/spontaneous?
Who knows? Not even she herself …
WOMAN
Jelena Radusinović
I am Jelena Radusinović. I come from Montenegro and have been living in Ljubljana since 2013.
The series of photographs that emerged, stems from the emotions of Woman. It lays bare the diverse faces of her identity, and grows and branches out from the timelessness of my everyday life.The photographs depict unplanned and spontaneous moments in the life of a psyche.
The series was unplanned; it was born from honesty, instinct and improvisation. It was dictated by the inner life of a Woman and the precious time carved out in the cross section of tasks, assignments, and socially ascribed roles of mother, partner, and Woman, a time for magic, a time between time, used for creativity.
Emotions are part of me, and deeply influence everything I Am. Emptions transform everything I think I Am, everything I call my Self, my identity; emotions transform and re-establish it over and over again. It is emotions that transform and change me
Moments captured in photographs speak about the fluidity of the faces of Woman and the infinity of her aspects.
Katrin Modic
When my disease rendered me handicapped, people pitied me, drew away from me, they were afraid to come in contact with me – they ascribed me a single identity – disability. Even more than by my handicap I was shocked by the change in how people behaved towards me. It felt like I was no longer the same person, as though I became someone else, whom they don’t know. I felt like my handicap was making it much harder on them then it was on me. Their behaviour bothered me, but I didn’t understand it.
I started to examine my options, to find what I could do, and above all for ways to do it. This took quite a bit of time and patience, and above all a lot of planning and testing whether the new ways were working. I succeeded in reconciling what I wanted to do with the fact that my body no longer responded automatically. Each bodily motion demanded thought; I had to spur my body on and also argue with it. I needed to learn how to do things differently. My handicap is challenging me to do things I previously never imagined. Each activity I undertake has meaning for me, it fills and enriches me.
In my interaction, in contact with others, and especially in communication with them, my previously singular identity softened and transformed into a combined one. Using personal assistance, technical devices, and through adapting the way I do it, I am able to do what I want.
A LIFE OF LOSS
Naiem Ibrahim
My name is Naiem. I am 26 years old and I was born in Qatar to Palestinian parents. I am Syrian Palestinian.
Although I was born in Doha, I and my family could never obtain citizenship as Syrian Palestinians. We were treated as slaves, owned by a sponsor - a Qatari person. Our life has been without perspective, without hope or freedom of speech.
Leaving was a necessity, but it was hard to leave my life behind - the people, the things I lost and missed.
This story speaks about the things I had to leave behind, the things that I had lost and the things I miss. Parts of me are still there, captured in these photos.
Romana Šteblaj
I’m Romana, a lover of an unusual book – The Bible. His living Word gives me strength and wisdom in life. With it I conquer fears and solve problems. With its help I win battles. It reminds me, comforts me. It is my love.
On of my favourite passages states that with Him “I can advance against troops and with my God I can scale a wall”. Another beloved passage states that He is “able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us”. These passages helped me scale many obstacles and preserve my faith in and hope for the impossible. I am filled with expectations, even when things seem impossible.
I tried to demonstrate a small part of this in my series of photographs.
I lived in a less than encouraging environment, and so it took quite a bit of work for me to deal with the lies I used to believe.
I took part in the training because photography makes me happy and because I wanted to gain knowledge and experience.
Tina Cerk in Naira Tahirović
I'm Tina. I have the soul of a philosopher and I love to create. Because I’m compassionate by nature, I applied to and completed social work studies. Nevertheless, my paths lead elsewhere. I work at a printers’ as a sales consultant.
I have muscular dystrophy, which turned my gestures into mini “gestures”. With my little fingers, I glide like a spider to things within my reach. I reach other things with the help of others, for example Naira, whom I met a good year ago. Our paths crossed at common interests in music, philosophy and many other things. Naira likes to play guitar, read, and cycle like me. The object of perspective in her photograph is me; an object of observation.
People, who know me, know that I always wear a scarf and a smile. I try to focus my creativity on the small details. Dystrophy makes my life hard in details. Those who help me don't understand the virtue of details. Or do they? With details, I break monotony.
I wanted my photograph to capture my everyday life, to present small parts of my life.
ADRENALINE
Aber Al Gendy
I am Aber Al Gendy. I was born in Damascus. My father was a military officer. We were a big family and his salary couldn't sustain eight family members. We moved to Alqatmus as we had family house there.
I finished high school and moved to Aleppo where I worked for eight years and then got married.
When the war broke out my youngest child was only 6 months old, the oldest was 6 years old. The second one was 5 at the time and the third one 3 years old.
The eldest daughter should go to school, but we couldn't do that as the school was adapted to asylum home for refugees. I took her to Alqatmus so she can go to school.
After two months, the little girl got sick and she had to return to Aleppo.
In 2012 the war got closer and closer to our area and it reached us in 2014. Our house was bombed with a mortar shell twice. One of the shells ended up in our balcony and kids said the “red ball” is jumping on the balcony. We were lucky, it didn't go off. If it had exploded, everyone in the building would die.
After this, most of the people left the building. We didn't yet leave at that time.
But we were eventually forced to leave.
For many years kids haven’t been going to school, so people were moving out of the city for their children to be able to attend classes. Now, I have two girls that are school obliged, but one of them already missed 2 years. As we wanted to put them in school, we were searching for safe options. We found a private school in the basement that she was visiting. But it was too expensive to sustain. I took the kids to a government school but this one has been shelled 3 times, some students and kids died.
I decided we will not live there anymore. I almost got crazy imagining getting back my kids from school in pieces. I didn`t wait, I prepared the passports and a plan for travel.
The photo where we hold hands was taken on the very last visit to friends in Aleppo to say goodbye. I arranged kids` hair for that occasion. It took me one month to say goodbye to all of my friends, but this was the very last visit. It was the moment captured in this photo that inspired me to write the poetry.
After this, we left.
Me and our children reached Ljubljana in November 10th 2017. My husband came to Ljubljana two years earlier, in 2015 and he was granted the refugee status. On this basis, we could join as a family. It is a safe city and offers a good future to our children.
Kevin Koman Modic
I'm Kevin. I’m interested in animals, which is why I’m going to study veterinary medicine. The photography workshops taught me how to use photography to tell a story. I found a cat with characteristics that made it stand out from most other cats and took a series of his photographs. I captured interesting situations.
Kamel is a reasonably active cat, who does things in unique ways. He differs from others already in how he goes to the bathroom. He faces down other cats in fights for his territory and meets the local felines when they assemble with their individual catches of the day. The thing he has most in common with the majority of other cats is the 20 hours they spend sleeping each day.
Camilo Acosta Mendoza
My name is Camilo. I was born in Bogotá, Colombia. I come from a loving family. I am married to a Slovenian woman. I work as a clown and a street performer. I love to dance Tango. Here is a piece of my story represented in 12 photos taken in the last 3 years. Enjoy.