From 17th January 2022, Jevrem Grujić House in Belgrade will host the exhibition Great Women of Serbian Culture, which will present women from our history who, with their works, courage and contributions, not only to culture but to the whole of Serbian history, have influenced the development of Serbian thought and society in general. This exhibition is organised by four women from Jevrem Grujić House and the Office for Cultural Diplomacy.
What does the great woman mean in Serbia? Often marginalised, even more often forgotten, our great women paved the way for new generations of painters, writers, doctors, scientists, philosophers, feminists, fighters for a better social position for women in professional life.
These were nurses and warriors, with medals, ranks, in many ways the first in their city, country, and even in Europe. The first to study, the first with a diploma, the first doctoral students, the first managers, members of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, founders of art associations, but also societies for the protection of women. Always patriotic, they often balanced between the struggle for personal realisation and the shackles imposed upon them by a patriarchal society, and even more often remained misunderstood in the struggle to realise personal, artistic, social and life goals. Celebrated abroad, misunderstood in Serbia, often in the fight against patriarchy, bureaucracy, laws and unwritten rules, they paved the way for new generations.
Milica Stojadinović Srpkinja, Mina Karadžić, Poleksija Todorović, Draga Ljočić, Beta Vukanović, Nadežda Petrović, Isidora Sekulić, Jelisaveta Načić, Marija Maga Magazinović, Vidosava Kovačević, Anica Savić Rebac, Zora Petrović, Desanka Maksimović, Leposava St. Pavlović, Milena Pavlović Barili, Ljubica Marić, Ljubica Cuca Sokić and Soja Jovanović will tell the visitors their life stories, destinies and achievements. Let us not forget them, because they are the great ones.