Ašta Šmé brings together people from various social science fields (cultural anthropology, ethnology, Romani studies) and the arts (artists, illustrators, writers), who share a common desire to express their opinions on social topics in a creative way - by narrating the individual life stories of the actors themselves. We focus on topics such as cultural diversity, social inequality, social minorities and the process of social exclusion and constructed identity.
The mission of Ašta Šmé is to develop artistic, analytical, cultural and educational activities. So far, Ašta Šmé has realized several projects focused primarily on creating biographical documentary comics. The topics were drawn from real life stories, and are given meaning by the actors themselves. In some of them, the actors got so close to the material, that it nearly made them co-authors of the creative work.
Ašta Šmé was founded in Prague on 11th of June 2008 and was registered with the Ministry of the Interior of the CR as a civic association. It is now registered as an association.