Endless commute

 

“Endless commute”

 

This blog is a summary of my journey to the Academy of Sciences and Arts of Kosovo. The Academy was founded on December 20, 1975, by the decision of the Assembly of Kosovo. It is organized into four divisions, the division of literature and linguistics, the division of social sciences, the division of natural sciences, and the division of arts. I was invited to an exhibition in which were participating a few well-known artists, one of them being my friend.

 

I felt thrilled when I first heard that I was invited to such an extraordinary place because it was my first time attending an exhibition and being there was an indulgence for me, taking into consideration my passion for art. Walking inside I had a strong feeling, and what caught my eye was a painting at the entrance, it was marvelous and I think it had a strong meaning behind it.

It made me think of my strength as a woman and holding myself and my own future in my hands. I feel like the woman was holding her past self and letting her go as she becomes a stronger version of herself. As I passed the entrance and the first painting, there was a huge room full of different art pieces, paintings, sculptures, and photos.

Before I got to dive into them and explore everything, the exhibition started with a performance by a group called “Zanat”. They sang a few beautiful Albanian songs which I love a lot. Their voices were so powerful they made me tremble.

From there on, after their performance ended, everyone was making a tour around the gallery and there was a lot of noise from their chatter about the wonderful artworks and people’s capability to create such amazing pieces. There were forms of art I had never seen before which left me speechless and I could not resist but take pictures of everything I saw. What I liked the most was first a combined technique called “Nusja”, it was the most unique piece of art there because it represents the Albanian traditional brides and our valuable history.

I saw Mother of Peace’s portrait there too, it was a great feeling to see it there and honor her, knowing she dedicated her life to caring for the destitute people, and regardless of her kindness and well-being, she died in the slums. She was an incredible woman, with big organizational skills and a humanitarian. She should be considered a hero for being able to save lives and always caring for others, which is rare nowadays.

Everything that was there, was reminding me of our Albanian history and our roots. The artworks were somehow in one way or another related to our country and our past. The first painting was called “Shamia” and it gave me the motif of Albanian women, their tradition to wear black headscarves at funerals, and brides wearing red ones when they are getting married.

The second one was called “Laj-Shplaj”. By its name, it means to wash and rinse clothes. Albanian women in the past were not allowed to go to school nor work or be independent, all they were allowed to do was housework, so this painting secretly represents our country’s sterling women who were not allowed to have a decent life.

Walking around I had mixed feelings, strong ones. I felt like the youth were still retaining and trying to strengthen our fading history and torment as a population. I consider that our triumph

 

 

Eliona Alija