Stigmarella is a story placed inside an exhibition space that introduces concepts of stigma and communication. The story is used as an educational tool for both children and their parents.
THE PROCESS
Stigmas are classified in three categories — physical, social and emotional. At the beginning of the project, we performed three types of stigma-based analysis. We interviewed psychiatrists, mental health patients and a group of people who have at least one ‘stigmatised’ family member; we also performed a self-reflective analysis in which a person asked themselves what their stigma was, how they understood it, how their inner circle accepted it, etc. A communication analysis was also conducted to analyse the graphic materials and find out how social health institutions communicate stigma issues.
It turned out that the problem was not the stigmatised but the stigmatisers. Stigmas are communicated in a negative way and go way back to our early childhood, when we were taught to label everything. In the classic story of Cinderella, the girl is neither happy nor has a purpose in life until she finds a Prince Charming who saves her from despair. These stories also teach us that wealth is a measure of social status.
We believe that the most appropriate medium in which to approach children is the book, so we decided to present stigmas in a positive way. The result was a modern version of the Cinderella story.
Our Cinderella story follows the narrative of the Brothers Grimm, but Renata Ažman has altered it slightly in three aspects – one of Cinderella’s legs is shorter than the other; the Prince realises she’s not perfect but tries to marry her regardless; and Cinderella is not interested in the offer, as she loves another man, her only intention being to dance. These parts will be shown as a cartoon. All the illustrations of Cinderella, the Prince and the castle were created by children.
Renata Ažman, an important member of our team, has been battling mental illness for many years. We decided to co-design this concept, with her being actively involved in all phases of the process.
Stigmarella – The Story about a Girl and a Shoe, has been created in collaboration with the Academy of Fine Arts and Design (ALUO), Društvo “Poglej!” and the Institute for Transmedia Design (ITD).