Sunday, April 21, 2024
tasty tidbits
Monday, November 29, 2021
A City for No One
I walk around the streets of this city, as I have always done, chasing something true, something beautiful. The people and the buildings are the entities that I usually find mostly interesting. The people, because they represent life, and a city without life is just an eerie sight to see (we all have experienced that during the recent forced closures); and the buildings, because they are the history and the style of the times. Unfortunately, lately, I am having serious trouble in satisfying these interests of mine.
I rarely see any happy faces these days. I look for them, but I can’t really find any. Maybe one, occasionally, which is just a drop in the ocean of gloomy and depressed profiles that floods the city's streets. Of course, there are many reasons behind this fact, like for example: the mysterious sickness representing death, the economic depression knocking at the door, the sick political theatre being played every day, the lack of emergency lanes, the unexpected energy crisis, still keeping a nonsense curfew after 11 o’clock, the lack of possibility to live a decent life in a country blessed by God, increasing poverty, mafia wars, surging corruption, and the list grows on and on. All these facts have their toll on the life of inhabitants. However, the main reason in my opinion, behind these depressive faces is - living in a city with no identity, and no living standards.
Every single building which represents the history of this city is being torn down, systematically; instead, endless dubious towers are raising with lighting speed. They are the steel and cement
giants with no eyes, which cast a suffocating shadow on everything and everyone. A brand-new skyline which didn’t really exist 5 years ago, now imprisons the city center, depriving people from the sunlight, and the beautiful view of Dajti mountain. It is impossibly difficult to find history here now. According to style, well, I don’t think one can find style in a city where its old national theater building was torn down only to build more nondescript towers instead.
This is a city where as soon as you wake up and step out of the house, you are in permanent conflict with everyone, and everything, because nothing functions as it should, and no one is responsible for anything. The urban environment is conceptualized in a way that is naturally hostile to the people. It resembles to a type of purposely messed up minefield, where you have to struggle not to start a fight with someone for the dumbest reasons; like, walking in the middle of the street instead of the sidewalk, even though there is no sidewalk.
On the other hand, it is unreal to see how people struggle each day to live a life that does not differ much from that of cattle. A harsh comparison but that’s what it is when there is shortage of drinking water, lack of electricity, absence of trees and green spaces, lack of playgrounds where kids can have a childhood, lack of emergency lanes, scarcity of sidewalks, lack of dedication, inadequate leadership, as well as lack of air to breathe. There is just one thing this city does not lack - bicycle lanes. Those bicycle lanes are fuckin' great, and that’s something to be proud of, I guess.
Recently, in an attempt to make things better or worse, some really strange façade art “adorned” many of the crucial spots around the city. I have been in other cities of the world and I have seen murals and public artworks of all the sorts, but nothing like this. Even though I try I cannot understand their connection with the urban context and their effect is nothing more than depressively puzzling. I wonder why should we always import any form of trash from the outside and expose it as worthy or beautiful, when instead it is just annoying or sinister?
It seems like the city’s citizens are doomed to live a life of déjà vus, a vicious circle; where nothing really changes substantially, but where visually everything becomes new by some higher verdict that no one approves nor comprehends. All connections with past ways of life and histories are cut. A big mind reset, a big lie, leading towards a restless oblivion, this is what the new generation gets. Nothing worthy, nothing substantial to live for. No identity to call their own, no character to define Tirana as itself.
It saddens me to see the wistful faces of the people. They walk around struggling, jailed in a space with no trees, no culture, and no hope in sight. Surrounded by new guarding towers, and mesmerized by molesting “art pieces”. Their life violated each day and more, their mind fed with fresh trash culture, their souls sold for a few pieces of silver.
Thursday, September 23, 2021
Amnesia
– a loss of collective memory
It was always in my mind, like a fixed idea, dedicating a
series of photographs to the destructive phenomenon of collective memory loss
in Albania. To me, it seems as the people are quickly forgetting their
past, focusing exclusively on dealing with immediate needs of present and
future. A kind of mental state where the past is erased daily, consciously or
unconsciously, and where only the present/future are paramount. I find myself
witnessing all this and fearing the uncertain times which await ahead.
One can easily notice that this type of memory loss is occurring rapidly in
every social sphere. Of course, the most visible sign of it is the erasure of
historic sites and urban spaces all over the country. In the name of
modernizing cities and “bettering” them to face the necessities of the 21st century,
the old traditional buildings, houses or well-known landmarks are being put
down, redesigning in this way the whole picture in the eyes of the beholders.
Addresses are not the same anymore and the once characteristic city spots are
forever gone, substituted by more skyscrapers or other “revitalizing” buildings
which are obsolete for the people.
The society where we are living in now, is a society of "ish", which
in English is translated "ex" or "what once was". Our
sporadic appointments are set in places that do not exist anymore, like
"ish teatri", "ish kinemaja" or "ish galeria",
etc. It is hard to comprehend how fast this destruction is taking
place and with what catastrophic consequences for the new generations. They
will never know what used to be before them. What they will see, will be a view
of modern falsity, without any particular meaning or connection with the
previous generations and their traditions. A kind of memory reset, a loss of
substance in making sense out of the world that we live in.
In Albania, the trauma of destroying and erasing what was already built, has
ancient roots, and can also be traced in the people's mythology . The Rozafa legend
for example is the perfect metaphor for what is really going on in these modern
times.
Communism and its devastating ideology brought colossal damage and
transformation in the lives of the people. Everything related to the past was
"re-evaluated" and "revalued", introducing the idea of the
revolutionary new human, ready to obey without questioning whatever the party
would order. Thus, they destroyed churches and mosques, eradicated entire
landscapes, put down traditional neighborhoods and buildings; changing the
people's memories through extreme propaganda.
It continued with “democracy”, where they started to destroy and erase whatever
good was made in time of communism. It soon had disastrous consequences and
created a political, economic and cultural collapse which brought the turmoil
of 1997.
This memory cleansing process still continues nowadays, where everything of
substantial value is torn down while dubious investments keep
flourishing instead. These drastic changes and dramatic losses are more
visible in the urban reality but the same effect is to be found in every other
social aspect including: history, culture, art, nature, education, language,
communication, crafts, human relationships, etc.
In realizing this project, I did not want to fall under
clichés of photographing just old rotten or demolished buildings around cities.
Mostly, I wanted to bring something about the people and the traumatic effects
of this destructive process upon them.
All the people that I photographed are wonderful humans and I am greatly
thankful to all of them. Most of them got a printed copy of their picture. It's
the least I could do to thank them for gracefully allowing me to annoy
them.
Challenges & achievements
The project was entirely photographed in film and it was quite challenging to put it all together (shoot, develop, scan, edit) in just 7 days. I shot 9 films all in all, and used 2 cameras, a 35mm and a medium format one. I am very thankful to - The Tirana Project workshop and especially to the wonderful photographer, Jens Schwarz, who led me and the other participants in becoming better documentary photographers.
Friday, August 20, 2021
On photography
What is photography? Some touching on the smartphone screen to
capture a flying moment, then choosing the best shot, quickly adding some exotic
filters, before posting it in social media? Well yes, it can be, especially in these "modern" times, where besides the everyday life there is also a virtual one
online.
Today everyone can be a photographer and taking pictures is
easier than ever. Well, did I say taking? What about making? In fact,
besides being another language and cultural difference between English and
Albanian language, this verb choice can also be “a ground breaking discovery”
for capturing better pictures. English speakers usually use the word taking a picture for the process of directing
the camera to a subject and pressing the shutter button. Fair enough,
because usually in a process like this, the photographer can be just an observer, who does nothing more but documenting the reality in front. The
reality is out there, while the photographer takes it in the camera and to the
picture.
In a second thought, and this is my thought, the thought of
an amateur photographer that loves the photography realm, I would prefer to use
the Albanian verb “bёj” – to make; bёj fotografi. Why? Because, in order to realize a
great picture, one that includes both documentation and artistic elements, the
photographer has to think fast, compose the scene right, choose the best angle,
feel the moment and sometimes interact with the subject in order to reach what
the photographer wants, an image that might make you whisper – this is lovely!
Photography is an actively creative process, a process comparable
with drawing and painting, where it is possible to compose and built your own
scene from the scratch; a process that requires reflection and meditation
before pressing the button. I usually prefer to make pictures, but sometimes I
cannot escape the touristic urge of taking my smart phone out and shooting
at everyone and everything.
Some days later, I developed the film and printed the picture in the darkroom. I discovered that
both images were perfectly overlapped (as I had carefully planned), while the crow's wings were opened up in a glorious way. I had made my perfect
picture.