Museum of Recent History in Celje, Slovenia
In 2021, Museum of Recent History Celje in Slovenia launched the project Women’s TraCEs, in which we explore the stories of women from Celje in the 20th century, the role of women in modern society and various topics related to women. With different approaches, we want to rethink our collections and exhibitions in the light of gender neutrality and stigmatisation; we want to balance them from women’s perspective. As part of the project, we are planning various events, such as themed walks through the town with women’s stories, programs for high school students, evening conversations in museum cafeteria and storytelling performances, all leading to the main event of the project – temporary museum exhibitions.
On 8 March 2021 we opened the online exhibition Being a Woman at the Time of Coronavirus. We invited women to contribute materials that reflect how they spent the time of quarantine and how the new circumstances marked them and their experience of themselves and their identity.
Collected objects, photographs and stories are published with descriptions on the website of Museum of Recent History Celje.
Link: https://www.muzej-nz-ce.si/obcasne_razstave/biti-zenska-v-casu-korone/.
Urška Repar, Co-founder of the project
Name: Boilersuit
Time: March – April 2020
Description: “My boilersuit. Quarantine time – the only opportunity I could wear it freely all day. I didn’t go anywhere and no one came to see me. Freely – no bounds, no bras, just thick socks and slippers with tassels. Despite the slightly prison look-a-like pattern, I felt very comfortable in it, even though I was closed within the walls of the apartment.”
Material contributed by: Anonymous
Name: Hiking shoes
Time: 1st and 2nd wave of coronavirus disease
Description: “At the time of the Covid-19 closure, movement was restricted to the municipality of residence only, and work was greatly altered. Therefore, I spent practically all of my free time walking on the off-road paths of Celje and discovered many interesting places. I did a lot of these paths with my husband and given that we survived the corona crisis without conflicts and are still in great relations, despite the fact that we spent tremendous amount of time together, this represents an important partnership achievement.”
Material contributed by: Anja Valant Velepec