The Mediterranean Citizens’ Assembly Foundaiton (FACM) has received on February 8 in Sarajevo / Bosnia-Herzegovina the traditional prize “Sloboda” / Freedom granted every year by the International Center for Peace in the framework of the International Sarajevo Winter Festival «Sarajevska zima». This recognition is aimed to highlight the contribution of institutions, entities and individuals to the defense of freedoms and human rights. The prize
was awarded to the president of the MCAF , Vicent Garcés, together with outstanding bosnian and international figures from the academic, cultural and civil society from Bosnia and Herzegovina.
During the ceremony, Mr. Garcés said that the MCA Foundation is a citizen network «whose raison d’être is to facilitate dialogue, knowledge and mutual respect within the framework of the diversity of the peoples of the Mediterranean. From Sarajevo, a symbolic city for the courage of its citizens, and that has given us recognition that bears the name FREEDOM, we launch a call for not giving up in the continuous struggle for peace and freedom, building trust in the other, in the different, for a common life in the culture of diversity ». Coinciding with this special award, the MCA Foundation held a meeting of the MCA circles in the region, with the participation of Thessaly / Greece, Podgorica / Montenegro, Zagreb / Croatia, Tirana / Albania and Sarajevo. An initiative that aims to unite the MCAF citizen network oby promoting synergy between neighboring circles towards a community of Mediterranean peoples.
MCA Foundation, on this occasion and within the framework of the XXXVI Edition of the Sarajevo Winter Festival, has presented an exhibition of works by 18 female illustrators and visual artists from the Mediterranean basin under the name “La mar d’il.lustrades”. This exhibition, curated by Tomás Gorria, was exhibited for the first time in the 2019 edition of the Mostra Viva del Mediterrani (MVM) Festival in Valencia. And it has had the collaboration of the MCA Circle of Sarajevo, the Sarajevo Winter Festival, the History Museum of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Atelier Memorial Alija Kucukalic Foundation and Valencia World Capital Design 2022, as an award-winning association with the Pont del Mediterrani 2019 of Mostra Viva del Mediterrani.
Elma Hodzic, curator of the Museum of the History of Bosnia and Herzegovina where is exhibited, defines it as “a journey through different expressions and artistic styles around the diversity of identities and territories of the Mediterranean region.” The exhibition, “dotted with diversity, highlights the points of contact between diverse cultures and identities, showing the crosses that erase the boundaries of geographical and political maps.”
The participating artists in the exhibition are: Aicha Abouhaj (Morocco), María Chiara Banchini (Italy), Zeineb Ben Haouala (Tunisia), Diala Brisi (Syria), Florence Bouchain (France), Daphne Christoforou (Cyprus), Ana Hoxha (Albania ), Tea Jurišić (Croatia), Sonya Korshenboym (Israel), Lejla Kučukalić (Bosnia-Herzegovina), Virginia Lorente (Spain), Irena Milačić (Montenegro), Theda Mimilaki (Greece), Deena Mohamed (Egypt), Samara Rana (Palestine) ), Vesna Skornsek (Slovenia), Büşra Üzgün (Turkey) and Maya Zankoul (Lebanon).