31 January, 2023, at 3 pm
Roma Station, Maribor

In cooperation with members of the Roma community and the Slovenian Ethnographic Museum, the Association EPEKA, Soc. Ent., within the Slovenian Roma Route project, funded by the Ministry of Culture, has prepared the exhibition Impressions of Traditions: the Traditions of the Roma of Maribor on the Occasion of a Wedding and the Birth of a Child. The exhibition will be opened at the premises of the EPEKA Association (Preradovičeva 1, Maribor) on Tuesday, 31 January 2023 at 3 pm.

The exhibition is part of the Slovenian Roma Route project, which was created within the educational module Roma Cultural Heritage and Ways of Presenting it.

About the exhibition:

As part of the Slovenian Roma Route (2021-2023) project, members of the Roma community from Maribor, under the mentorship of curator Tina Palaić from the Slovenian Ethnographic Museum, discussed heritage and remembrance. The participation led to reflections on their personal objects related to important memories from their lives. They decided to present an exhibition on the customs and traditions of marriage and childbirth that have been passed down from generation to generation. It is therefore a snapshot of a family tradition that they themselves recognise as important in their own lives. Families differ slightly in the way they celebrate their customs, adapting certain elements to their own aesthetic criteria and preferences.

The project training involved 14 participants. Some of them were born in Slovenia, both in Maribor and Ljubljana, and some of them moved to Slovenia from the former Yugoslav republics. One of the participants is a Christian who celebrates both Catholic and Orthodox holidays, while the others profess to be members of the Islamic faith. Each of the participants brought to the group their family background and their memories and experiences, which were documented with personal objects. It became clear that there is no single understanding of Roma identity. That is why each individual identifies himself with the object he has chosen, with a shame and a story that goes with it.

“The Slovenian Roma Route is co-financed by the Republic of Slovenia and the European Union from the European Social Fund. It is implemented under the Operational Programme for the Implementation of the European Cohesion Policy 2014-2020, Priority Investment 9.1 Active inclusion, including the promotion of equal opportunities and active participation, and improving employability, Specific Objective 9.1.3 Preventing the slide into poverty or social exclusion and reducing health inequalities.”

You are cordially invited!