VIVISECTfest - 6 years after

 

Vivisect, vivisection

• 1. The cutting of living organism, performing operation on living organism for the purpose of examining the functions of organism.

• 2. (fig.) Direct facing reality without any mitigation or embellishing.

                                      

In 2004, the non-governmental organization Vojvodjanka – Regional Women's Initiative launched the Festival on Human Rights – VIVISECTfest in Novi Sad with the intention to develop an all-year-round educational and artistic platform for presentations and discussions on the issue of human rights.

Festival on Human Rights  – VIVISECTfest  the idea behind was to draw public's attention to the attacks on human dignity which were getting more and more frequent.

The Festival programme has been envisaged like a unity of actions dealing with the current violation of human rights on the local/regional and global/international level through documentary films, photographs and applied posters.

An inside/outside view is our basic mode of accessing the issue of human rights violation, and therefore, we may present, at one single place, different attitudes to the issue by the authors who work on a local/regional and global/international level.

The project activities are being implemented through an annual programme that includes preparation and organisation of each new edition of the festival in Novi Sad dedicated to a pressing issue, and organisation of a travelling festival in the country and abroad.

The programme of each new VIVISECTfest edition is designed in such a manner to stimulate people to think in a critical manner and ask questions instead of only accepting ready-made answers.

The Festival on Human Rights – VIVISECTfest is our modest contribution to the educational processes with the final goal to establish peace and reach peaceful solutions for crisis and conflicts.

Fifth VIVISECTfest editions were realised dedicated to the topics of:

- War in the Former Yugoslavia – View from Inside and Outside (2004)
- My Enemies: Nationalism and Xenophobia (2006)
- Terrorism, No Thank You! (2008)
- Totalitarian Regimes - View from Inside and Outside (2008)
- Welcome to the Real World (2010)

In the period from 2005 to 2010, the organiser of the VIVISECTfest set up the network of the travelling festivals in 26 towns (in Serbia: Belgrade, Kikinda, Indjija, Novi Pazar, Novi Bečej, Bačka Palanka, Sombor, Ruma, Stara Pazova, Kula, Niš, Leskovac, Subotica, Sečanj, Sremski Karlovci, Vrbas, Vajska, Zajecar, Vranje; in Bosnia and Herzegovina: Mostar, Sarajevo, Tuzla, Banja Luka; in Macedonia – Skopje; in Montenegro – Podgorica, and in Germany – Berlin).

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The first edition of VIVISECTfest
Topic: War in the Former Yugoslavia – View from Inside and Outside

After terrible wars which occurred in the territory of the former Yugoslavia in the last decade of 20th century, many tragic events were forgotten or denied.

The initiated processes of dealing with the recent past have still not provided an objective insight into the neo-Nazistic idealism which contaminated the region of the former Yugoslavia, and they have also not provided possibility to review individual attitudes regarding the events from the recent past.

The Festival on Human Rights - VIVISECTfest dedicated to the topic of “War in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia – View from Inside and Outside”, ensured to, for the first time in the territory of the former Yugoslavia, in one place, from the perspective of various views (inside and outside), consider the causes and effects of the wars in the territory of the former Yugoslavia in the period from 1991 to 2001.

Within the first issue of the VIVISECTfest, the works of the authors from the territory of the former Yugoslavia and abroad were presented through the following programme units:

- Photograph exhibition "War in the Former Yugoslavia – View from Inside and Outside" comprised of 90 photographs and 15 photographers – Darko Bandić, Martin Candir, David  I.Gross, Diego A. Gomez, Boris Grdanovski, Ron Haviv, Visar Kryeziu, Danilo Krstanović, Gary Knight, Borut Krajnc, Paul Lowe, Massimo Sciacca, Tone Stojko, Andrew Testa, and Barbara Čeferin.

The exhibition is a unique collection of the war photographs on the conflict in the former Yugoslavia in the period from 1991 to 2001. The exhibition includes the photographs related to every single conflict in the territory of the former Yugoslavia: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, NATO bombardment of Yugoslavia and Macedonia. Each of the invited photojournalists selected several photos which, in his/her opinion, present the essence of the wars that occurred in the former Yugoslavia in the last decade of 20th century. The exhibition of the photographs is a unique installation in space: the photographs are exhibited on cardboard panels hanging on the ropes above the exhibition space creating a labyrinth through which the visitors advance. 

- Multimedial exhibition The Voices of the Missing is a part of the activities of the International Commission for the Missing Persons (ICMP) whose goal is to highlight the problem of the missing persons with the particular stress on the experience of the families whose members went missing after the conflicts in the territory of the former Yugoslavia.
The exhibition was organised in co-operation with the photographer Haris Memija, who in November and December 2001 visited the members of the Association of the Missing Persons in B&H with which ICMP co-operates. Haris Memija has recorded their stories through their individual portraits and interviews.
Novi Sad was the only and first city in Serbia where exhibition “Voices of the Missing” was organised.

- Interactive exhibition Lay Down Your Arms, Farewell to Arms, Farewell to Wars represents a separate installation in space which includes a board with the inscription "A Man Sings After War" by Dusan Vasiljev, written in 1920. This exhibition also includes a space for leaving all those items which remind people of war, which people want to give away for good.

- Exhibition of applied posters Farewell to Arms, Farewell too Wars, the authors of which are the students of Art Academy in Novi Sad: Atila Kuruc, Bojan Miljanović, Valentina Broštean, Željko Katanić, Sara Kujundžić, Tijana Jovanović, Nina Karlavaris, Timotije Odadžić, Svetlana Ninković, and Snežana Nikšić.

- Film programme: Koca Pavlovic - War for Peace, Fade in – Growing Up of the "V" Generation, Sahin Sisic – The Planet Sarajevo, Maja Weiss –  The Balkan Gunfighters and The Road of Fraternity and Unity, Nenad Puhovski – Pavilion 22, Janko Baljak – The Anatomy of Pain, Dan Reed – The Valley, Jody Barrett, Maria Mok, Maasja Ooms – Kosovo/a,  Vlado Dencov – The Long Straight Furrow, Marija Gajicki – Vivisect, Michael Perlman – Eyes of the World, Velimir Curguz Kazimir – Bitter Medicine, Helena Koder – Refugee Centre, Ivan Andrijanic and Ivan Stefanovic – When you Burn, Burn it Better, Boris Mitic – Pretty Dyana and UMNIK Titanic, Sead and Nihad Kresevljakovis, Nedim Alikadic – Do You Remember Sarajevo?, Franci Slak – The Birth of a Nation, Dubravko Badalic – There Where We Departed, Igor Zupe – It's Alive, Laibach Occupied Europe NATO Tour, Aldin Arnautovic and Refik Hodzic – Blind Justice, YII Citaku – Should I Stay or Should I Go, Goran Devic – Imported Crows, Davor Konjikusic – The Erased.

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The second edition of VIVISECTfest
Topic: My Enemies: Nationalism and Xenophobia

It is still not easy to notice the nationalism, xenophobia, and the speech of hatred – although they are manifested in various ways on a daily basis. In the territory of the former Yugoslavia, before, and during the wars, nationalism and xenophobia were empowered through the support of centrally coordinated language of hatred manifested in the public political scene. Electronic media – especially TV – had a crucial role in spreading the speech of hatred. They also resulted in people's "getting used to evil". During the ten years of war in the territory of the former Yugoslavia, miserable and horrifying events were continuingly being changed on a daily basis. An average TV viewer was compelled to continuingly delete past events from his memory, and to create space for new ones, usually more tragic. The memory of the people got used to the evil surrounding them in those years was becoming shorter and shorter.

The wars made in the territory of the former Yugoslavia were certainly one of the crucial reasons for the occurrences of the forms of the hatred and intolerance, including the nationalism, xenophobia, and neo-Nazism. Yet, the isolation, war environment, and instable political situation in the society, may not be excuse for the lack of adequate reaction of general public to the occurrences of the nationalism, xenophobia, and speech of hatred. These phenomena are closely related, and the more related they are, the firmer they become – as well as more dangerous.

Nowadays, we are faced with the fact that the majority of people have been used to various languages of hatred, nationalistic and fascistic offenses, to open verbal and even physical conflicts.

The second edition of the VIVISECTfest dedicated to the topic of “My Enemies: Nationalism and Xenophobia” offers the programme aimed at raising awareness on the threats of the language of hatred, nationalism, and xenophobia on regional and global level.

Within the second VIVISECTfest edition, the works of the authors from the territory of the former Yugoslavia and abroad were presented through the following programme units:

- Photograph exhibition "At the Beginning of New Century" comprised of 59 photographs and 11 photographers – Filip Bakić, Čila David, Aleksandra Erski, Jozef Gergelj, Radivoje Hadžić, Aleksandar Jovanović, Djordje Komlenski, Silard Kovač, Branislav Lučić, Andraš Otoš, Nikola Stojanović.

The exhibition includes the photographs originated in the period from 2000 to 2006 recording the incidents of destroying tombs, graffiti of hatred, and hooligan behaviour of supporters in the towns in Vojvodina. The characteristic of Vojvodina is that it is, by the national variety of its population, an ethnic phenomenon: 29 nations live here, but there are no ethnic enclaves and the population is not mixed only in towns, 95% of the inhabited places are ethnically mixed. In 2004, Vojvodina was faced with an unpleasant issue of interethnic (in) tolerance and expansion of nationalistic incidents. In 2005, the number of physical assaults decreased, but the number of inscriptions with assaulting nationalistic content and damaged tombs, as well as the number of verbal assaults, swears, and threats to the members of minority ethnic communities increased. In 2006, the number of the ethnically based incidents in Vojvodina fell, but interpersonal relations were still burdened, including high ethnical distance. Participants in violent actions were mostly young people who had grown up in isolation, war environment, and in the time of social insecurity.

- The exhibition titled Graphitti comprises eight photographs taken by Tarik Samarah in December 2002 in the Battery Manufacturing Plant in Potočari. The photographs contain graphitti written by the Dutch troops on the walls of the plant during their mandate in Srebrenica. The Royal Netherlands Troops were deployed within the UNPROFOR peacekeeping mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina, between 1993 and 1995, and were in charge of the Srebrenica protected zone.

- Exhibition Anno Domini 2002 comprises 64 photographs by Ron Haviv which were exhibited in Novi Sad in September 2002, together with the comments written then by the visitors beside each photograph. The pages of the book VIVISECT, which includes Ron Haviv’s photographs and the related comments by the visitors written beside each exhibited photo, are also exhibited. The exhibition in Novi Sad was held on September 10th -20th, 2002 and was visited by 5,000 people. In comparison with the exhibitions staged in other towns and cities of Serbia (Belgrade, Vršac, Čačak, Kragujevac, Užice) it provoked great attention by media and controversy reactions of the visitors. The organisers of the exhibition in Novi Sad gave the visitors the opportunity to write down their unsigned comments on a blank paper beside each of Haviv’s photographs, which were exhibited for eight days. Every day, the visitors left their comments on blank papers, and at the end of the exhibition a total of 500 papers were gathered. The comments reveal that the process of facing the truth about the wars and war crimes in very complex, and during that process the facts which made those people unready to face the horrors of wars in the territory of the former Yugoslavia yet should also be taken into account.

- Exhibition of applied posters My Enemies: Nationalism and Xenophobia the authors of which are the students of the Art Academy in Novi Sad: Snežana Nikšić, Aleksandra Jakovljević, Daša Ćorković, Dragan Bibin, Filip Z. Nemet, Laslo Antal, Nevena Katanić, Nikola Berbakov, and Tanja Mirković.

- Film programme: Pawel Pawlikowski – Serbian Epics; Janko Baljak – Vukovar – Final Cut; Goran Devic – I Have Nothing Nice to Say to You; Elmir Jukic – A Frame for the Picture of My Homeland; Helge Cramer – The Amateurs and the General; Lode Desmet – Kosovo: Does Anyone Have a Plan?; Iris Elezi – Disposable Heroes; Jeanine Butler – Building Bridges; Bertram Verhaag – Blue Eyed; Rakesh Sharma – Final Solution; Ashvin Kumar – A Little Terrorist; Zelimir Zilnik - Second Generation, Kenedi Returns Home,Where Has Kenedi Been for Two Years? Europe Next Door; Zeljko Mirkovic - Muharem - Music, the Eyes of Life; Oliver Sertić / Fade in – Croatia E(n)d-en on Earth; Hrvoje Mabic/Fade in– Zagreb is Calling You; Ylber Mehmedaliu, Edon Rizvanolli – Shuffle/Politics, Bullshit and Rock’n’roll; Saso Podgorsek – Divided States of America /
Laibach 2004 Tour.

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The third edition of  VIVISECTfest
Topic: Terrorism, No Thank You!

Terrorism is one of the major problems of modern society. It has become a phenomenon, an idea and a term which entered everyday lives of ordinary people. Along with the development of technology, culture and material production, terrorism also developed, but at a faster rate. The causes and motives of the emergence of terrorist organisations and their brutal terrorist actions are various. Numerous authors search for the causes, forms and the essence of terrorism, and also the "profile" of a modern terrorist.

The third edition of the Human Rights Festival – VIVISECTfest, dedicated to the topic "Terrorism, No, Thank You", offers a programme which highlights the issue of identity as one of the main causes of terrorism.
Search for identity and its defence create various problems and hardships for individuals and groups. We are talking about a unilateral, distorted, "fatal" and "saving" identity for whose defence one scarified everything, even life itself (often one's own, but most often someone else's). Terrorism is, thus, regarded as the only way of defending such identity.

Although it is rooted in the ancient past, terrorism is the product of modern era, in particular of the second half of the 20th century. Its causes and motives are numerous. The aim of terrorism is to draw public's attention to the state, position and problems of some social group and to put them above all the remaining problems in the state, region, and even world, and to send a message (most often the political one) about the group's aspirations and intentions. If you take a more careful approach, you will see that in the core of every terrorist motive there is to obtain, maintain and defend individual and/or collective identity.

Terrorism threatens all important resources of the modern society: economy, democracy, freedom and human rights. The first year of the new century, and millennium, started with such indications. What happened on September 11, 2001 in the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington D.C., and the number of victims and level of destruction they involved, warn us that the power and diversity of modern terrorism is unbelievable. If you add to it the fact that, according to FBI, there are 3,000 terrorist groups and organisations in the world, with membership of 200,000 terrorists, the modern world looks even grimmer. 

Within the third VIVISECTfest edition, various views of the authors regarding the problem of terrorism in the world were presented through the following programme units:

- Photograph exhibition WAR: USA, Afghanistan, Iraq comprised of 53 photographs, whose authors were awarded with numerous awards and who are founders of Agency VII: Alexandra Boulat, Ron Haviv, Gary Knight, Antonin Kratochvil, Christopher Morris, James Nachtwey, John Stanmeyer, Lauren Greenfield, Christoper Anderson.

Since September 11th, 2001, most Americans have seen the War on Terror unfold on television, receiving a broadcasted view of the war quite different from the ongoing ground wars as experienced by U.S. troops deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq. WAR: USA, Afghanistan, Iraq offers a detailed view of what America has faced since the attack on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, prying into the three major crises of the 21st century from a social, political, and militaristic standpoint. The photographs span from the destruction at Ground Zero on the morning of  September 11th to the hunt for Osama bin Laden in Afghanistan, and the air strikes and US occupation of Iraq. They inspire a powerful vista of what international turmoil has extracted from the hearts of many human beings in the three different locations.

Novi Sad was the only and first city in Serbia where exhibition WAR: USA, Afghanistan, Iraq was organised.

- Exhibition of applied posters Terrorism, No Thanks the authors of which are the students of the Art Academy in Novi Sad: Stojan Mančić, Nenad Jelovac, Aleksandra Tarbuk, Marko Denković, Velimir Andrejević, Jelena Potkonjak, Žužana Šoti, Marko Brkić, Ana Šimon, Bernard Kosednar, Maja Musulin, Natalija Ninkov, Dušan Zaklan, Vladimir Jovanović, Jelena Ristić, Vanja Jovanović, Milan Čerevicki, Petar Plavšić.

- Film programme: Yulie Cohen Gerstel - My Terrorist; Liam Dalzell - Punjabi Cab; Pirjo Honkasalo - The 3 Rooms of Melancholia; John Sullivan - Home of the Brave – Land of the Free; Marianna Yarovskaya, Olesya Bondareva - Holy Warriors; Beate Arnestad - My Daughter the Terrorist; Eric Foss, Greg Kelly - Beyond Words: Photographers of War; Danny Schechter - Weapons of Mass Deception; Christian Frei - The Giant Buddhas and War Photographer; Line Halvorsen - USA vs Al-Arian; Martin Maracek - The Source.

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The fourth edition of  VIVISECTfest
Topic: Totalitarian Regimes - View from Inside and Outside

The twentieth century was marked by two world wars, and a high number of local wars and revolutions in-between, the rise of totalitarian movements and undermining of parliamentary governments which resulted in new types of tyrannies, single party and military dictatorships, and seemingly firmly established totalitarian governments which relied on mass support.

In contrast to previous decades, after 1989, political situation changed in a fast and radical manner in many countries. The thing which seemed simple in the nineties of 20th century, when Berlin wall fell, when Soviet Union was disintegrated, and the cold war finished, turned out to be much more complex, complicated, and uncertain.

Totalitarian ideas may, indeed, survive the fall of totalitarian regimes. Their temptation will have occurred whenever it seems impossible that political, social, or economic poverty is mitigated in a decent way for a man.

Mass support for the totalitarianism does not come due to ignorance or brainwashing. This is the ideology which aspires to acquire a total explanation of the world, and which promises to offer total explanation of the past, the total knowledge of the present, and reliable forecast of the future. Thus, the ideological way of thinking destroys all connections with reality. Presentation has succeeded when people lose contact with other people as well as with the reality surrounding them, for, together with these links not only openness for new experiences is lost, but also the capability to think. Ideal subjects of the totalitarian state are not true nazis or true communists, but the people who do not make any difference between the fact and fiction, between true and non-true.

The fourth edition of the VIVISECTfest dedicated to the topic of "Totalitarian Regimes – View from Inside and Outside" is aimed at pointing out the ideologies and totalitarian regimes which resulted in horrific crimes during 20th century in the name of ideology, with special emphasis on the situation in the former communist countries.

Within the fourth VIVISECTfest edition, various authors’ views were presented, analysing the regimes from the perspective of political and art ideas which resulted in their solving:

- Photograph exhibition "Close View of Cuba" comprised of 70 photographs of photographer Olja Stefanović Triaška. The photographs were taken in 2005 in Havana, in the parts of the city which are not accessible to foreigners. These photographs offer the view of Havana and Cuba which testifies about not so familiar scenes from the Cubans’ everyday life.

- Presentation of  Black Book of Communism: Crimes, Terror, and Repressionprovides an overview of some less known facts about the torture, repression, and crimes in the communist regimes in 20th century. The book authors are French historians and communism experts Jean-Louis Panné, Jean-Louis Margolin, Polish historian Andrzej Paczkowski, and Czech historian Karel Bartosek. The majority of the book is dedicated to Soviet Union, and it also includes a detailed presentation of events in Spain, Poland, Central and South East Europe, China, North Korea, Laos, Cambodia, Latin America, Africa, and Afghanistan. The book, above all, includes the information that became available when archives in the former communist countries became open - archive in Gulag, in Czech Republic, as well as the archive Stasi in the former East Germany.

-  Photograph exhibition Fallen Angels of Communist Ideology comprised of 40 photographs of Jaroslav Pap. The exhibition is a testimony of December Revolution in Romania in 1989, at its source – in Timisoara. These are the recordings of high professional quality, and, at the same time, very precious documents, not only for the recent history of Romanian people, but also for the chronicle of communism breakdown in Europe. Thanks to the preserved negatives of photographer Jaroslav Pap, the exhibition was made with which, on the occasion of marking 20 years of the fall of the communist regimes in Eastern Europe, we also wanted to draw attention to the events in Romania, which are equally significant as the fall of the Berlin wall and revolutions in Czechoslovakia, Hungary, and Poland.

- Photograph exhibition Universal Declaration on Human Rights comprised of 30 photographs and 11 photographers - Čila David, Aleksandra Erski, Gabor Ifju, Aleksandar Jovanović, Andraš Otoš, Jaroslav Pap, Andrea Palašti, Miroslav Ružić, Dragutin Savić, Nemanja Savić, Željko Škrbić.

The photograph exhibition originated on the occasion of marking 60 years of the adoption of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, where each of 30 Declaration articles is “illustrated” with one photograph. These photographs provided a wide range of various views to the world around us, and testify the changes that occurred in the society right from the perspective of basic human rights.

- Film programme: Zelimir Zilnik - Early Works and June Turmoil; Sigrid Faltin - La Paloma; Bernard Cuau - Words and Death: Prague in Stalin's Era; Alexander Gutman - Sunny Side of the Road; Daya Cahen - The Stalin that was played by me; Raffaele Brunetti, Stefano Missio - Che Guevara: The Body & the Legend; Carles Bosch, Josep M. Domenech - Balseros; Rafael Lewandowski - Children of Solidarnosc; Miroslav Dembinski - A Lesson of Belorussian; Linda Jablonska - Left, Right, Forward; Dariusz  Jablonski - Photographer; Tony Wilson - Confessions of a German Soldier; Marcus J. Carney - The End of the Neubacher Project; Dinko Tucakovic, Milan Nikodijevic - Censored without Censorship.

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The fifth edition of  VIVISECTfest
Topic: Welcome to the Real World

The VIVISECTfest  05 will present the works of the authors pointing out the challenges faced by many people in the world today to exercise their basic human rights. The documentaries and photographs present the stories about the people living in social and culture margins in various parts of the world – from Thailand, through Venezuela, Salvador, United States of America, Great Britain, Denmark, Germany, Afghanistan, Russia, Australia, Nepal, to Croatia, Serbia, and Kosovo.

Gap between the world we have and which we want is great. Yet, it is important to know that desperation is never complete, and that there is always a hope.

Different world is not only possible, but it is necessary. Therefore, the activity of improving and developing the culture of human rights and their protection is a continuing process which should be fostered and adjusted to specific social and historical, cultural, and economic circumstances.

The programmes organised within the VIVISECTfest are designed so as to stimulate people to think critically and raise questions instead of accepting ready answers.

As it was the case with the previous editions of VIVISECTfest, the newest one will continue to promote the documentary and photography of the authors of all generations throughout the world.

Photograph exhibition of Manca Juvan called People from the Margin presents the pictures from the life of the people living in Afghanistan, Venezuela, Iran, Slovenia, and Thailand.

The film programme called Welcome to the Real World presents the documentaries: Bananas!* - Fredrik Gertten (Sweden); Juvies – Leslie Neale (USA); One Day – Ditte Haarlov Johnsen (Denmark); Lockerbie revisited – Gideon Levy (the Netherlands); Comic Books Go To War – Mark Daniels (Italy/France); World vote now – Joel Marsden (Spain); Afghan Girls Can Kick – Bahareh Hosseini (Afghanistan); Two Summers in Kosovo – Christoper Bobyn, Andrew Lampard (Canada); Thogether – Nenad Puhovski (Croatia); What you want - Bettina Braun (Germany); Jorney of a red fridge – Nataša and Lučian Muntean (Serbia).

Within the film programme, short films made within the project Video Base of Human Rights will also be screened. Youth Office Kikinda and Kikinda Youth Initiative, including the support of Kikinda Municipal Assembly realised the project Video Base of Human Rights – Research, Record, Show within which short TV works of the young authors, project participants, were produced. Seventeen filmmakers (up to 30 years of age) took part in the project. The objective was to, through education and research, recording and screening of two-minute TV works put the focus on the topic of the human rights, which will initiate TV productions called Video Base on Human Rights.The art responses to the given topic were provided by the project participants through four films: Road Sign - Dunja Ibročić, Labelling - Vedran Lacamanović and Tijana Velemirov, Attendite - Mario Bojić, and Article 19 – Ivana Vukelić.

Photograph exhibition People from the Margin

The photographs of Manca Juvan made in Slovenia, Afghanistan, Iran, Venezuela, and Thailand testify that many people in the world may not say that they live in dignity and security. In Slovenia, the Roma discrimination has still been present. In Afghanistan, many people end in prison due to so-called "moral crimes", such as adultery, second marriage, or runaway from home. Thirty percent of the Afghan population with posttraumatic syndrome are accommodated in inadequate institutions in which they have “no one’s help but God’s”. The number of heroin addicts in Kabul has increased day after day, and drugs are still easily available and exceptionally cheap. In Venezuela, which was proclaimed by its President Hugo Chavez the land of “21st century socialism”, not everyone has got the possibility to live safely. There is an increasing number of family violence, and many people inhabit abandoned sheds... Kathoey, or male-female transvestites have been a part of Thailand entertaining scene for a long time. Yet, they still may not change their sex in a legal manner. Up is 27 years old, she was born as a boy, but lives as a woman. Even after the surgery of genitals, she may still not change her sex…

Manca Juvan has worked as a freelance photographer since 2000, and from 2007 for agency Corbis. Published photographs and stories on Venezuela, Afghanistan, Iran, Pakistan, Nepal, Cambodia, Thailand, India, the United States, Serbia and the EU countries, among others in The Times, The Sunday Times, The Guardian, The European Voice, Der Standard, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Chicago Tribune, National Geographic (Slovenia) and Time.com. Recently she has been collaborating with Slovenia's largest daily newspaper, Delo. She was selected Photographer of the Year in Slovenia for her reportage work in 2006, 2007 and 2008. She was twice commended – in 2005 and 2006 – for her work on Afghanistan by the Slovenian Association of Journalists. She had individual and collective exhibitions in Tehran, Ljubljana, Perpignan, Hanover, Paris, Belgrade, Warsaw, Novi Sad and Kikinda.

www.mancajuvan.com