Goodnight Stories (Pravljice za lahko noč)

An illustrated book for adults? Stories? Whoever reads such things these days!
Maybe for the very reason that once upon a time the child within was killed by rules, prohibitions, humiliations and other socially acceptable oppression.
Maybe for the very reason that we wanted to grow up as quickly as possible, so that we would be small and helpless no longer.
Maybe for the very reason that we are grown-ups, and grown-ups do not read stories.

Pravljice za lahko noč / Goodnight Stories is a book about small, apparently innocent acts of oppression that upbringing wages upon us. Sometimes so commonplace and irrelevant that we paid no attention to them, or maybe we suppressed them in our subconscious, and accepted this as something normal. This book is not about physical abuse or sexual harassment, but rather upbringing conceived by parents, and actions that most people find quite right and absolutely normal. Such measures repressed and thence killed off the curious, loving and villainous child within, and made us strong and reasonable adults. And we employ such subconscious practice on our own children, and blind belief in the maxim of “spare the rod and spoil the child” or the principle that is fine to leave babies crying because it’s “good for their lungs”.

This book is a collection of real-life experiences, but these stories feature princes, princesses, kings, queens, mendicants and orphan girls. Indeed, they are all characters that can be found in classic fairytales, but with one big difference: they are aimed at ‘lulling’ adults, and wishing them sweet dreams! The handmade book, produced in 50 copies, may be bought by Festival visitors at a symbolic price.
Kiki Omerzel

Moderated by: Tanja Mastnak

Organisation: City of Women
In collaboration with: Slovenski etnografski muzej, Maska