We invite you to the opening of an exhibition “Repetitions, rehearsals, stagings” by Split-based artist Glorija Lizde at Lauba.

The exhibition will open on August 28th at 8:00 PM and remain open until September 6th, 2024.

“In this work, I explore the history of photographic representation of women in psychiatric institutions and the power dynamics between the photographer – doctor and the photographed – patients.

The project is based on photographic archives of the 19th century, primarily from the Salpêtrière Hospital in Paris, containing hundreds of photographs of women diagnosed with hysteria. Hysteria, from the ancient Greek hystera meaning womb, was considered a psychiatric disorder caused by a wandering, restless womb.

Fascinated by photography’s ability to record the physical manifestations of hysteria, doctors often induced symptoms and seizures using various tools to produce better photographs. What was supposed to be a medical treatment transformed into a choreographic, almost theatrical spectacle of contorted bodies, countless repetitions and stagings.

In recreating found photographs, I place myself in the position of the photographed women, but also the position of the photographer using the remote shutter release visible in the photographs. Texts below the photographs are excerpts from the descriptions of the patients’ behaviour recorded by the French doctor Jean Martin Charcot and the Croatian doctors who largely modelled themselves on Charcot’s methods and practices.

Reflecting on the manipulative nature of the medium of photography and the relationship between the female body and medicine, I exhibit collages in which I cut and rearrange illustrations of wombs, medical supplies and photographic equipment.

By reinterpreting historical institutional practices, I reexamine their influence on the contemporary understanding of mental health and the female body, as I try to find new ways of seeing and reading the past inscribed in the shared female experience.” (Glorija Lizde)

Glorija Lizde (born in 1991, in Split) completed her undergraduate studies in film and video at the Academy of Arts in Split and her graduate studies in photography at the Academy of Dramatic Art in Zagreb. In her artistic work, she explores themes of family relationships, trauma, genetic inheritance, and memory, using both documentary and staged photography.

She has held several solo exhibitions and participated in numerous group exhibitions in Croatia and abroad, including the O21 OSTRALE Biennale, Residency Unlimited New York, Robert Capa Contemporary Photography Center, QUAD Gallery, Benaki Museum, the 57th Zagreb Salon, The Bridge and Tunnel Gallery New York, and *Rasvijetljena soba – Women’s Photographic Practice in Croatia*. She was nominated for the World Press Photo Joop Swart Masterclass in 2020 and was selected as one of the photographers for the international program for emerging artists, Parallel – European Photo Based Platform, in 2018 and 2021. She is the recipient of the Dr. Éva Kahán Foundation scholarship and residency for 2022 and won the Radoslav Putar Award in 2022 for the best young artist.