The Aleanca Unstraight Art Residency has selected Swedish artist Sofia Hultin and Albanian cinematographer Ergys Meta to produce a new artwork together with the Albanian LGBT community
TIRANA, Sept. 17 – Two Swedish and Albanian artists have come together in Tirana in an art residency project on the LGBT community in Albania. Selected artists are expected to work with the local LGBT community, developing an artwork that addresses, in an artistically acute manner, the current political and social situation of the LGBT community in Albania, organizers say. For four weeks, the artists will be engaged with the community and produce works that target both the local and an international audience to rethink contemporary issues of exclusion, discrimination, gender, and sexuality. The work should explicitly aim to be emancipatory force for the Albanian LGBT community.
This year, the Aleanca Unstraight Art Residency has selected Swedish artist Sofia Hultin and Albanian cinematographer Ergys Meta to produce a new work together with the Albanian LGBT community. Hultin has developed the concept of a “lesbian city walk,” to articulate geographically the presence of the lesbian community in Tirana by collecting and representing both public and personal stories that reflect on how political and social movement affect the individual experience. Meta will present his short movie “Come Inside Me,” the story of a gay couple whose love is destroyed and the revenge that follows. Documentation of the one-month residency period by photographer Xheni Alushi will complement the two works.
On September 16, the lesbian city walk will start at 17:300 outside Cafe Radio and end at FAB Gallery at 18:15.
The Aleanca Unstraight Art Residency is an initiative of Aleanca Kund철Diskriminimit t롌GBT and The Unstraight Museum, and kindly supported by the Swedish Institute.
Last May, Art. 1,” a touring exhibition from some of Sweden’s most prominent museums with accounts and reflections of the history and contemporary life of the LGBT persons was featured in Albania, considered one of Europe’s most homophobic countries. Taking the first article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as its point of departure, Art. 1 (Article 1) wants to take a small step in the long struggle to secure equal rights for all mankind. Albania is considered one of the most homophobic countries in Europe but this year has been making progress, including bringing in new legislation. A recent study by the FES Foundation found that more than 50% of Albanian youth are homophobic, according to LGBT websites.
