Performance

“The Refugee”

Lana Zdravković

“The Refugee” is a performance that came out from the re-thinking of the refugee issue through a gender perspective. It embodies a woman that is fleeing from war, poverty, misery, as well as from patriarchy, machismo, and sexism. The performer’s naked body symbolises (her) bare life (or homo sacer), as well as the fact that refugees are not powerless victims who have no desire to enjoy or fight for their own emancipation. This performance was created for the Image Snatchers’ (or Tatovi podob’s) burlesque evenings in Ljubljana, where it is regularly performed.

Lana Zdravkovic is a performer in the Kitch tandem from Slovenia, where she explores the field of the subversive, political, and emancipatory potential of the kitsch phenomenon. She is a member of the already mentioned collective Image Snatchers’ that works in the area of burlesque, cabaret and circus. As a performer, she is also part of the platform for contemporary performing arts Via Negativa Lab. At the same time, she is a researcher at the Peace Institute, a publicist, and a political activist.