Birthday Parents

The objective of Birthday Parents was to make a documentary photography exhibition and a fictional short film to communicate the outcomes of the research project, Parenting Cultures and Risk Management in Plural Norway. Accomplished artist Savas Boyraz, in close cooperation with the researchers Danielsen (Project leader), Bendixsen and Sundsbø, made the film Birthday Parents and the photo exhibit with the same name. Boyraz grew up in Instabul and has his art education from Sweden, giving him an outsider perspective on the phenomenon of birthday cenbrations. He was also encouraged to contribute with his artistic skills. The film handles questions of how to live together in contemporary Norway by showing how two families celegrate the birthdays of their their girls together. The documentary photo exhibit shows different ways of celebrating birtday parties together, representing families with and without migration background and focusing on different aspect of this tradition. The project sheds light on some of the challenges for citizens of Norway, by focusing on different parenting cultures and concentrating on the organization of birthday parties. While being a seemingly innocent gathering for children, birthday parties are an important platform upon which many of the social and political aspects of parenting are imagined and performed. It, thus, manifests itself as a valuable and important subject matter for this dissemination project dealing with the challenges regarding parenting in a plural society. For more info about the film and photo project: http://uni.no/en/uni-rokkan-centre/culture-power-and-meaning-copy/birthdayparents/

Birthday Parents involves documentary photography and fictional film to communicate the outcomes of the research project Parenting Cultures and Risk Management in Plural Norway?, headed by Hilde Danielsen. Birthday Parents will be performed by the accomplished artist Savas Boyraz (See CV, in close cooperation with the researchers. The project will shed light on the challenges in the making of new citizens of future Norway, by focusing on parenting cultures and concentrating on the organization of birthday parties. While being a seemingly innocent gathering for children, birthday parties are an important platform upon which many of the social and political aspects of parenting are imagined and performed. It, thus, manifests itself as a valuable and important subject matter for this dissemination project dealing with the challenges regarding parenting in a plural society. The main target group for the project is parents in Norway, including different ethnic and social groups. Also it will be relevant for teachers and other professionals working with parents and children. Birthday Parents will create a thought-provoking local and national agenda through which the research project is made visible and accessible for the actual target group of the research. It will provide insight into the subject matter from the perspectives of different parties involved; such as migrant and ethnic Norwegian parents, teachers and children. Through exhibitions organised in collaboration with local and national cultural and community centres and art institutions, we aim at bringing visibility to the issues discussed throughout the research project, in the public cultural and social domains, thus enabling the discussion to be carried over to a wider audience than academic circles and middle-class people. Local Cultural and social institutions will make the project outcomes return to its origin.