-
By:
Besarte Elshani
- April 13, 2026 10:30 am
- Share to:
It is also a kind of attempt to document what easily disappears. And to bring to the public what remains. In the cafe-gallery “Lavjerrs”, Arben Llapashtica’s photographs stand as relics of memory that breathe through the image. His photographs have immortalized images of objects, spaces and people. Some of the protagonists in them no longer live, and some landscapes have changed or disappeared completely. But the image has remained. He has recreated the photographs by going back ten years, taking the same photographs with the same people.
The exhibition “Friends of Janjevës” by the renowned photographer, Arben Llapashtica, is not just a return to the arena of his artistic shots, but also a return in time. It is also a kind of attempt to document what easily disappears. And it brings to the public what remains. In the cafe-gallery “Lavjerrs” his photographs stand as relics of memory that breathe through the image.
His photographs have immortalized images of objects, spaces, and people. Some of the protagonists in them no longer live, and some landscapes have changed or disappeared altogether. But the image has remained.
He recreated the photographs by going back ten years, taking the same photos with the same people.
At the core of this exhibition lies an idea that is as simple as it is shocking. The same thing that resembles difference and the present that changes without understanding. Places change and people leave. But memories make the difference understood.
Even the return of Llapashtica after ten years to the same spaces, with the same people – or lack thereof – has been like a dialogue between two times. Nostalgia speaks loudly in these images, and this is the poetic part of professional photographs without burdening them.
A group of friends next to an old car are the image in a photograph. Next to it stands another identical one. The first taken in 2010, the other ten years later. The friendship is the same, but the circumstances are not. In the same place where a house was seen in the background, it is no longer there. Nor is the car next to which the group is found. Another recreation of the photograph are two images of three young people. The two photographs were taken at the same time.
also
Democracy in posters is modified as an image, a call and a reminder
The author of the photographs explained how it was no coincidence that the photographs were recreated.
"It wasn't meant to be an exhibition like this, but in 2010 I met some children who I have become very close friends with. They are much younger than me, but when I go there they get to know me, respect me, accompany me. They even protect me from dogs for a while. I met Sebastian after ten years and I asked him to gather his friends in the photo from ten years ago and we recreated it. We tried to do the same, but unfortunately, the car and the house in the back don't exist, they have been destroyed," said well-known photographer Arben Llapashtica.
The images are a kind of metaphor for a childhood that knows no decay – while the surrounding space slowly disappears.
In another photo, three boys walk in the snow holding simple handmade toys. But when this photo is placed next to its version from a decade ago, it evokes nostalgia for the past.
"There are other moments from Janjevë. There are also two old men who, unfortunately, are no longer alive, but when I asked them how old they were, they said they were a hundred years old. I see many pre-war moments there, especially that iconic photograph with the old sleds that you rarely see like this anymore. This is the reason why I continue to go there and capture these kinds of moments," said Llapashtica, who has been involved in this art for over two decades.
He is a frequent visitor to Janjevo, about twenty minutes from the capital. With his photographs, he has promoted the town, which before the war was inhabited mainly by Croats. Even today, it is known for its diversity and old buildings of a unique architecture.
Its emptiness is clearly noticed by Llapashtica, for whom abandoned spaces are objects that interest him not only to visualize them in photo frames, but also to appeal to with his images.
"I like to visit and document abandoned spaces and present them, perhaps on the condition that someone takes some initiative to remake them. One of my favorite places is undoubtedly Janjeva, after Novo Brdo. Since I was there for the first time many years ago, I have been going there constantly. It is close to Pristina, but unfortunately it is a neglected village. Unfortunately, it was inhabited by the Croatian community and the Serbs put pressure on them and they left the place. They return from time to time for holidays, but the village was inhabited by unique houses that have begun to be destroyed," he told KOHĪN.
He said that the country has been left aside.
also
"1991" draws parallels between the wars in Croatia and Kosovo, tonight on "Express"
"The village is multiethnic with Albanians, Croats and Roma. It is clearly noticeable that it has been left aside. Recently, some initiatives have been taken and some houses have been restored with the idea that perhaps the Croats will return. But when I ask them if they will return, they say that they find it difficult to return after so long. They return for holidays," said Llapashtica.
As a photographer with a large social media following, his photography has had an impact. He has highlighted the restoration of homes in the area, but he has expressed skepticism that the interventions will have any effect.
"The idea of the state with organizations like UNDP and the EU has restored them to transform the space into a type of tourism that I don't know how long it will work. More work and promotion are needed because it is close and a very attractive place. The houses are unique since most of the businesses, like the crafts that they were, were in their homes. They made a lot of plastic toys and there are still old machines for modifying toys there," continued Llapashtica, who began his professional career in 2001 as a cameraman and in the position of director of photography on television, at Kohavision.
As part of the KTV team, as a cameraman and director of photography, he has made dozens of documentaries. Through filming, he has documented the processes that Kosovo has gone through, until independence. He has closely followed, with video and photos, the post-war transitional period, the unrest, the negotiation processes, the decision of the International Court of Justice in The Hague.
He has been involved in photography since 2008 and is engaged as a photographer and cameraman in several institutions. He has won more than twenty awards and prizes for video and photography, and the images he has taken have been exhibited inside and outside Kosovo.
His exhibition "Friends of Janjevës" was also exhibited in September 2022 at the Europe House in Kosovo.
also
"1991" draws parallels between the wars in Croatia and Kosovo in the idea of love
The exhibition comes to “Lavjerrs” as a narrative about the gradual disappearance of the physical and human landscape. It is proof that spaces change, people disappear, but photography resists oblivion. Thus, art has the power to stop time, even for a moment.
