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Can comics change society? Can humor expose prejudices we have heard so often that we no longer recognize them as discrimination? These are precisely the questions raised by the “Bauk Feminauk” exhibition, presented on the third day of the Sexual Theatre Festival, October 28, 2026, at the Bosnian National Theatre in Zenica.
TPO Foundation launched the “Bauk Feminauk” comic series in 2012 in collaboration with the Brkate Group, using comics as a creative space for critically examining gender stereotypes, sexism, and societal expectations. The very title of the series plays ironically with prejudices about feminism and feminists, who are often caricatured and portrayed as a threat to the established social order.
Through short, witty, and provocative stories, the comics reveal how gender inequalities are reproduced through language, jokes, family relationships, education, and everyday interactions. What may initially appear to be a harmless joke often exposes deeply rooted assumptions about what women and men can, should, or are allowed to do.
Speaking to the festival media, Lamija Subašić, a representative of TPO Foundation, highlighted the importance of comics as an accessible and engaging artistic medium that makes it possible to address complex issues of gender equality in a clear, creative, and critical way. By combining visual expression, humor, and social criticism, comics create space for questioning stereotypes that we often unconsciously accept and pass on to new generations.
The particular value of the “Bauk Feminauk” series lies in its ability to provoke reflection rather than moralize. Humor becomes a means of resistance, while irony serves to expose the absurdities of social norms presented as natural, unchangeable, and self-evident.
Presenting this exhibition as part of the Sexual Theatre Festival highlights the importance of connecting art, education, and activism in encouraging conversations about gender relations, power, and social justice.
The “Bauk Feminauk” exhibition reminds us that change often begins with a simple question: Why do we find something funny, and what does our laughter reveal about the society we live in?
