“Speaking Out” Exhibition 

In 2021, the War Childhood Museum (WCM) opened its temporary exhibition “Speaking Out”, dedicated to and co-produced with survivors of conflict-related sexual violence and children born of war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Through personal stories, curated exhibits, and video testimonies, the exhibition created a survivor-centred platform for participants to share their lived experiences in their own voices. At the same time, it highlighted the multiple challenges survivors and children born of war continue to face in their everyday lives, alongside their resilience, aspirations, and hopes for the future.  

The exhibition brought together video testimonies, personal narratives, symbolic objects, and body-mapping artworks. These artistic and narrative forms allowed participants to express experiences of violence, stigma, and exclusion, while also affirming survival, agency, and resilience. The body-mapping methodology, adapted with psychological and creative expertise, enabled survivors to transform memory and trauma into visual storytelling that moves beyond silence and shame. 

Following its production and initial exhibitions in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Sarajevo and Mostar) and Serbia (Belgrade), “Speaking Out” has continued to have impact beyond the exhibition space. It has been used as an example of good practice in supporting survivors of conflict-related sexual violence from Ukraine in Moldova, and as a powerful advocacy tool for children born of war seeking legal recognition and rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

See the War Childhood Museum’s website for more details https://warchildhood.org/speaking-out-exhibition-experiences-of-crsv-survivors-and-children-born-of-war/