TIRANA, Feb. 8 – Albanian painters Anila Hetoja and Edlira Harapi will be introducing German art affectionados with Albanian aesthetics through an exhibition titled Telling Stories that will remain open in the city of Bocholt until Feb. 18.
The exhibition’s inauguration gathered a number of German citizens interested to become more familiar with Albanian art and meet the freelance artists.
Curated and assisted by German painter Marco Bà¼ning, each artist’s exhibition brought a variety of themes, with Herapi having focused to emotions and feelings through her paintings and Hetoja representing the country’s traditional costumes, prominent in their colors and execution technique.
The exhibition showcased a total of 15 artworks.
In an interview for MEDIAL.mk, the artists said they had been thinking of an exhibition to present their work to the German audience for a while, as this was not their first collaboration as artists.
“We had already put up two big exhibitions in Albania with Anila and we saw the possibility to create an exhibition in Germany as the next project. This wasn’t easy, but after applying to a gallery at the city where I live, in Bocholt, the owner of the gallery and one of the most famous painters in the country Marco Bà¼ning helped us make this project a reality. Nothing is easy, especially when you are a foreigner in a country, but through will, passion and a lot of hard work, every barrier can be overcome,” Harapi said.
She added the name of the exhibition was decided through their intentions, as the artists wanted to tell stories through their paintings. Those stories include part of the country’s tradition, as well as human interest stories and experiences, represented by the exhibition’s conceptual part.
Though both artists spoke Albanian, each left a mark with their individuality through their art.
Harapi’s conceptual genre aimed to express women’s figure in an abstract manner, while Hetoja’s clear forms and color play artworks sided with tradition.
The exhibition attracted the attention of local media as well, which reported on the fruitful collaboration between the two cultures’ representatives.
Asked whether they’ve planned to bring their exhibition in other countries, the artists said that art knows no boundaries and that they are open to new possibilities in the future.
“Let’s promote beauty and stop identifying with ugliness. If people try doing that a bit more in every aspect of their lives, I believe their mission is complete,” Harapi concluded her interview for MEDIAL.mk.
