-
By:
Besarte Elshani
- December 10, 2024 10:30
- Share to:
Works are like a space where a statement is stretched and distorted to build a story. Six screens installed in the gallery show six videos of the same subject angle. The artist herself is in the frame. But they bring other stories and stories. Above all memories. The artist from Tirana, Ornela Alia, has said that her artistic practice is mainly based on childhood memories. That even the exhibition "50 miles..." is a confrontation between them and how the artist perceived the concepts at that time and how she sees them now. She has two fresh stories that she includes in her first presentation in Pristina
The narrative for the exhibition "50 miles north of Tirana's Rinas Airport", its author Ornela Alia defines it as a place to speculate on the integrity of a narrative, a dream or a location. The sequence of memories from her childhood are on the screens that are lit for her works in "Galeria 17" at the end of the "Pop-up art week" event.
Works are like a space where a statement is stretched and distorted to build a story. Six screens installed in the gallery show six videos of the same subject angle. The artist herself is in the frame. But they bring other stories and stories. Above all memories.
The artist from Tirana, Ornela Alia, has said that her artistic practice is mainly based on childhood memories. That even the exhibition "50 miles..." is a confrontation between them and how the artist perceived the concepts at that time and how she sees them now. She has two fresh stories, which she includes in her first presentation in Pristina.
"I try to use humor to tell a story or show how things have changed. I have done the same here. This is the true story of the helicopter that crashed. I am from Kukësi, I stayed there for four years and then we moved to Tirana. A NATO helicopter had crashed at the time when the war in Kosovo was about to begin. It fell very close to our house. This is one of the memories I have from that time", said Alia.
While revealing her other memory, she said that they are completely different from each other.
“Another memory I have of the house there was that the house was covered in pink roses and the color reflected in the living room. So I wanted to compare these two to each other on how opposite they are. One is very painful and very scary and the other very soothing. I wanted to speculate on the history and location of a country, as well as put myself in a situation where I have happened many times, being Albanian, and how it is always necessary to explain where it is as a country", said the artist Alia.
Her art is a kind of game, satire, humor. She said that she showed these memories to people. Since her practice is based on conversations with people, her works exhibited in "Gallery 17" have been an aid to her creative process. Such is the audio installation that accompanies the visual works. It has taken shape with the conversations of people who show emotions.
"It is a voice message sent to me by a friend of mine from Prishtina. I have cut out only this part where she showed a lot of emotion. I try to focus only on emotions in all my work. It's also a little dedication of the people around me. There are fragments of conversations and moments that we share together", explained the artist Ornela Alia.
Her working mediums are video, text and performance. It is through her appreciation of pop culture and virtual experiences that she guides her creative process. Her aim is to create an indeterminate characterization of belonging, while at the same time constructing meaning out of the seemingly banal. At the same time, she wants to reveal the fragility of identity in a complex, profit-oriented world.
In the exhibition "50 miles north of Tirana's Rinas Airport" she uses short, repetitive videos known as "GIFs". One that lasts about six seconds brings fragments of a story. It can also tell a whole story. But the essence, beyond the form of presentation of the work, is the conversations with friends or ordinary people. They inspire him.
Sihana Klisurica, communications manager at the "Shtëtëvezë" foundation, which organizes this event, said that Alia has an interesting approach where she uses satire, humor and sting in her artistic expression.
"There is a dose of sarcasm within her works and the way she deals with social and other topics that she then elaborates through different mediums. At first glance it may look and sound like something to laugh at, but it can actually sting to a point. I think that this makes Ornela an artist of interest not only to expose her, but also to give her the opportunity to display her art', said Klisurica.
He announced that they met the artist Ornela Aliu in advance at one of the artistic residencies held at "Residence 17" in Prishtina.
This year's edition of "Pop-up art week" has been concluded with her works. Klisurica has assessed the second edition of the event as successful.
"It was very good to end this week of 'Pop-up art week' with Ornella, because I think that her exhibition leaves us with a taste to think further about different social issues for the next year. In general, 'Pop-up art week' was successful, it went very well", she said.
He considers the event as a kind of challenge not only for young artists, but also for those with a career, to install and remove the works from the gallery in one day. According to her, "Pop-up art week" is freshness for the cultural scene in the country.
"We thought that this approach could bring innovation and freshness to the cultural scene, on the other hand giving this opportunity to young artists, young voices to take their first steps in their careers, but also artists who are already positioned in the art scene in the country, to challenge themselves with one-day exhibitions in the sense of mounting the exhibition and leaving it within a few hours", she said.
In the framework of this art week, the exhibitions "250°C" by Kemil Bektesh, "The man of the castle" by Blerta Kambo and "A silent cry is an opening" by Manushaqe Ibrahimi were shown.
