Zavod Tri: Embroidered Stories

Round Tower, Škofja Loka Museum
15 June–28 August 2022

Exhibition coordinator: Nina Misson

The exhibition features the personal stories of the participants in the workshops prepared by Zavod Tri, a Škofja Loka-based non-governmental organisation focused on sustainable community practices. The stories are written in three languages – Slovenian, English and the participants’ mother tongues – and depicted on embroidered canvases. The exhibitors based their work on personal photographs that present their respective day-to-day lives, families and ways of life, or a particular moment from the time when they moved to a new environment. They impressed and transferred black-and-white copies of the photographs onto the canvas with glue, and then highlighted certain details and outlines with coloured threads.

The women who have moved to Škofja Loka and those who have lived here for a long time have been meeting since 2018. Every September, they open their door with a language course, which then evolves into expression through textile arts. The exhibition features women from Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Northern Macedonia, Kosovo, the USA and Ukraine. As part of the programme, which took place in 2021 and 2022, the participants visited the Škofja Loka Museum, learned about the history of the Škofja Loka area and about the work involved in preparing and staging exhibitions at the museum. No matter where people come from, they become part of the community, they have their own attitude towards the local environment. This is not only the place where they live, but also where they express themselves and create. And this is what the museum aimed to present and introduce visitors to.