The workshop will teach children in a friendly way about the topic of stigma through various drawing, model-making and storytelling techniques. The workshop will be moderated by designer Matej Lavrenčič.

Whoever comes in contact with psychiatry, whether it be a long-term stay behind the walls of a psychiatric institution or simply a conversation with a psychiatrist, they encounter the deep-rooted stigmas that always accompany mental disorders. Why, despite its avowed humanism, has modern society failed to eradicate this stigma and, in fact, further exacerbated it? This will be the topic of our discussion with the renowned Slovenian psychiatrist dr. Vesna Švab, long-term researcher into stigma and all its practical implications for the everyday lives of people with mental disorders.

Renata Ažman’s book Yoyo was created out of the author’s struggles with bipolar disorder and her self-treatment through therapeutic writing. The original concept of therapeutic writing, which was first presented at the Center of Excellence in Interdisciplinary Mental Health at the University of Birmingham in 2008 as the final stage of treatment, means writing and publishing a story about one’s most severe trauma. In the author’s case, this was psychological violence and sexual abuse in the family, which found its place in Yoyo, at the same time representing the end and a new beginning. The end of fear, pain and suffering and the beginning of a new path, liberated from stigma.

The presentation will be moderated by journalist Jelena Aščić. Jelena is a reporter for the Slovenian national broadcaster and studied the topic of sexual abuse in Slovenia when creating an acclaimed documentary Dossier.

Renata Ažman is a writer and a former journalist who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder in 1993 and has since been hospitalised three times. In 2003 she decided to write about her experience. She published her first book, Japajade, in 2005, which was followed by Depra in 2007 and Itaq in 2011. They all have in common the treatment of stigmatised issues such as mental illness, homosexuality and sexual abuse, which is also the topic of her fourth book, Yoyo.

The issue of stigma is placed in an exhibition space in the form of a fairytale, but beyond the story there is the cruel reality of the social system. The process of creating the Stigmarella exhibition will be presented by its authors: Renata Ažman, Sara Božanić, Pika Novak, Saša Kerkoš, Boštjan Botas Kenda, Jure Likeb, Zoran Arizanović, Timon Leder, David Mosquera, Maja Matič, Sebastian Montoya Vega, Andraž Avsec, Matej Žvan and Katka Imperl. Throughout the conversation, the authors will also address issues that are important for the further development of the project, which aims to raise awareness and articulate the concept of stigma in our society.