On Friday, December 15th, HLCK had the pleasure of presenting the work of the two artists, Renea Begolli and Luiza Thaqi, at the opening of the exhibition 'Say to remember me so we won’t forget' at the Documentation Center Kosovo, as part of the call for artistic projects that aim to address themes related to dealing with the past.
The woman in war is an issue as complex as it is universal. The body of women is never inconsequential to war; in the collective imagination, this body has been treated at times as life-giving and divine, and at other times as a site of manifested violence.
The video installation presented by the artists is initially designed to engage the visitor in an alternate dimension. It takes on a fluid form with images of the world that many remember from their homes or along roads that led to places that offered brief safety. The semi-transparency of the fabric and the shadows created by the projections reflect on the layers of this discussion. The audio recordings are the actual testimonies that began as conversations between individuals. The voices from time to time stand by themselves, and from time to time join together, paralleling the idea of individuality and collectivity of this particular experience.
“Say to remember me, So we won't forget” emphasizes the importance of encouraging the communication of memories, whether through verbal communication, writing, or in this case, through both research and artistic work, to highlight the experiences of women about pregnancy, birth, and motherhood during the period of war in Kosovo. Mutual communication, both as children of war and as protagonists of these events, aims to ensure that these memories do not fade over time and that they become part of a broader narrative of the war in Kosovo.
This exhibition will remain open for one month and is supported by the Swiss Confederation - the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs.