TIRANA, April 19 – Under the guidance of their art teachers, foreign and Albanian students ranging from first to twelfth grade contributed in the artistic event calendar built around Skanderbeg’s Year to put together an art exhibition portraying the country’s heroic figure in different artistic styles.
The student exhibition, which was open to the public for two days starting April 17, was hosted by the Tirana Youth Center and came as the result of two weeks of work in various disciplines such as visual art, history and literature.
Among the artwork displayed were three-dimensional portraits of Skanderbeg executed in various styles and methods, installations combining photography conveying historical information, original student poems and even fashion designs using modern elements in the context of traditional Skanderbeg period costumes.
The tour, offered by the students themselves in both Albanian and English, began with classical representations of Skanderbeg and ended with a cubist, Picasso-inspired, black and white conceptualization of the hero on a bright yellow background that was hard to believe was the result of a student’s work.
The diversity of Skanderbeg’s portrayals celebrated the hero in many different lights – some classically depicted him as a liberator, some were visualizations of his valued items, such as his sword and helmet, or locations traditionally related to him, while others sought to educate by conveying unpopular stories and information.
“Have you ever seen this view? It’s beautiful and it has a great story behind it. During the Ottoman occupation, after Kruja was invaded, 90 Kruja girls and women came here and, in order to escape the Turks, fell from this rock at 200 meters height,” said Gisela Meà§a, an eleventh-grade student who under the orientation of art teachers Ervin Dauti and Eris Bushati helped bring the exhibition alive.
Among the events brought to the public in light of Skanderbeg Year, the thought put behind the students’ artworks has so far made this exhibition a highlight of the activities.
“In Turkish, Skanderbeg means Leader Alexander, so I put the sun behind him to express that. There’s also the albanian motifs surrounding him here in the sides, and the eagle on the side…well, legend says he saw an eagle that inspired him in his dream, so I decided to include that,” Atis Kazaferi, another grade 12 student, said.
With few first-grade-students’ poems cut in half, Skanderberg’s beards colored in different colors by third-graders and fashion designs made by nails, wool and plastic, the World Academy of Tirana offered the kind of emerging youth art the capital has been long missing.
