UNMIK on AIR

The Roma Painter

April 26th 2004.

(By Andrea Saula)

 

 

In the muddy village of Lepina outside of Pristina, Bajram Memeti, a young Roma painter is trying to revive scenes from Roma history on his canvas.

In this edition of UNMIK on Air: a portrait of a Roma painter living in Kosovo.

 

Hello and Welcome. This is UNMIK on AIR.

 

Memeti’s small house in the muddy village of Lepina,  looks like an art gallery. Colorful canvases line the walls, depicting typical scenes of Roma life.  Memeti says that he already sold hundreds of his paintings but that he will never sell his 30 favorites.

Memeti described how he began painting as a child, but honed his skills when he completed a three year art school at Uglljare, just a few years ago.

 

Bajram Memeti: We all know how it was in Kosovo, in the year of 2000. We couldn’t move anywhere but on the Radio Gracanica, I think, I heard an advertisement for a painting school, given by Zoran Zivkovic from Ugljare. I was interested in that. I meet a lot of pupils over there and friends. I learnt a lot.

 

Memeti remembers when he first started to paint, that he used watercolors, coal and ink. Now he has moved onto using oil paints.  Memeti admits it is hard to find quality material these days for his paintings, but somehow he copes with it.  Memeti says his choice in subject matter and theme is derived from stories of the past:

 

Bajram Memeti: Mainly I’m painting Roma people because I’m a Roma. I’m painting some scenes from the history, how the life used to be till now days, what happened in the past, what were the customs. I’m using different techniques. Also I paint hovels in which Roma used to live. Somehow I get an inspiration from those stories and I like to make those paintings. They’re imaginative. That’s naïve painting but it has some value. It is more my imagination. Sometimes I listen to how people used to live, how they didn’t have houses and lived under tents. They were making cottages from woods, cane and straw, that inspires me. I imagine how it was before but also I put some personal input.    

 

Memeti paintings aren’t restricted to Roma themes, but also depict all Kosovo’s communities in scenes set in earlier days-- living and working together. Memeti admits that stories about earlier life in Kosovo are his passion.

 

Bajram Memeti: The history was interesting. People in Kosovo used to live in harmony. I know that both Romas and Albanians and Serbs used to live together. They were friends among each other. They worked together and they went to school together. I would like the world to be like that again, to let peace be and freedom. I tried to show in my paintings some feeling and one perspective on how people used to live. I would like to be like that again. The most important moments in my paintings are work, moving, and freedom. People used to be free, they lived together, worked together, and they could do what ever they wanted. They could celebrate. Those are moments that attach me to my pictures.

 

Memeti’s work also consists of painting icons:

 

Bajram Memeti: I make icons too and I’m especially interested in icons. It is an old way of painting, Byzantium manner. I feel good very good when I paint icons.  But I like to do different things. Portraits too. Also I like to make reproductions.

 

Few people are aware of Bajram Memeti’s work, nor can many travel to see it in person.  The village of Lepina is almost totally cut off living in an enclave.  Lepina’s mostly Serbian and Roma residents do not feel safe to move beyond the city limits.  Under these existing circumstances, Bajram Memeti has found it more or less impossible to organize an exhibition.  But this wasn’t always the case, even during the difficult days of 2000, as Memeti tells UNMIK on Air:

 

Bajram Memeti: I had a group exhibition in a School in Ugljare. Ten of us pupils participated in that exhibition. Our professor, Zoran Zivkovic from Ugljare organized it. We put all the painting in frames. We also made some icons and exhibited them. A lot of internationals came to the exhibition. It was really hard to organize something like that in 2000. The situation was really hard. We had no freedom of movement. It was also hard for me to reach Ugljare to attend my classes.

 

After this group exhibition in Ugljare, Memeti says he has had an uphill battle to find a space to show his work.  Memeti now has some 30 canvases ready to be put into frames if there was any opportunity to show his work:

 

Bajram Memeti: I’d like to organize an exhibition anywhere. I’d like to make a lot of pictures and for people to see them. I’d like people to see the history, Roma history. To see that people used to live in harmony and had a good life and would like to be that way today.

 

In recent days, a number of NGO’s have approached Bajram Memeti in order to help organize an exhibition of his paintings, the first of which is most likely to be held in Gracanica.  Bajram Memeti

is unemployed and hopes one day to support his family by selling his paintings.

 

That is all for this edition of UNMIK on Air… Thanks for listening and stay tuned for more.