Spanish artist Sebastian Velasco and Miami-based artist Axel Void recently achieved a new chapter in their ongoing creative relationship with their latest collaboration for Mural Fest Kosovo. Their piece, titled ZOGJTE (Birds) can be found on two massive facades in the Balkan nation’s principal city of Ferizaj. Highlighting both of the artists’ technical prowess and proclivities in subject matter, ZOGJTE pays tribute to the country’s storied history through the lens of the nomadic Roma people.
In a statement provided by the pair, they explain that the mural touches upon the an idea “Where cultural flux is severed by political edges.” The statement continues, “The same way a plant morphs, adapts and is influenced by its environment, we, the people, have these qualities. Blending in languages, our thoughts, our contaminated melodies, our variety in foods and the ways we cook them; Yet, contrasted by a myopic view of our context and understanding of social constructs, such as nationalism or religion. Just as ‘No man will step in the same river twice,’ geographical lines will continue to be organic, to expand and contract and to adapt to their environment. However, we can always meet at these geographical lines for water.”
Kosovo itself symbolizes the fluidity of national boundaries. Its identity has historically been in flux. According to Encyclopedia Britannica, the dispute has roots from the era when Serbia, which secured independence from the Ottoman Empire. In the early 19th century, Serbia “regained control of Kosovo in 1912, following the First Balkan War, but lost it again during World War I.” Claim to Kosovo has shifted continually since then; It was occupied by Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria until 1918, and later became “the new Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes (later named Yugoslavia) as a part of Serbia.” Serbian colonists soon invaded the nation, leading many Kosovar Albanians to flee. The Axis powers occupied Yugoslavia during World War II, and the country “was united with neighboring Albania under Italian control.” During this time, “Kosovar Albanians then drove out or killed thousands of the interwar Serb colonists.”
This is, of course, only a microscopic snapshot into the intricacies of Kosovo’s history. In 2008, Kosovo self-declared its independence from Serbia, “Although only the United States and most members of the European Union (EU) recognized Kosovo’s declaration of independence,” while “Serbia, Russia, and a significant number of other countries—including several EU members—did not.” In 2010, the International Court of Justice somewhat validated the country’s independence, though Serbia still disputes that decision. Kosovo is still a nation searching to determine its true identity, and as such, it is a symbol this question: What do national borders really even mean?
Regarding their mural, Velasco and Void continue to write that “Depicted on the right side of the wall are the portraits of two Romani citizens of Ferizaj. Romanis are know as a people with no land or nation. They are often nomadic and live in over 40 different countries around the world. .
This mural uses a specific metaphor to reflect upon the concept of co-existence and common humanity.”
The Romani, or Roma, people themselves also embody this question of national boundaries. As a people without a defined nation, the New York Times wrote in September 2017 that they have been “Historically shunned and disparaged.” Today, they “still suffer from social exclusion, poor education, high unemployment and poverty. The ugly stereotypes used to stigmatize them as socially backward have proved tenacious.”
Kosovo has its own dirty history with Roma populations. In April 2016, the New York Times reported that “Hundreds of Roma families in Kosovo, who were forced to live for more than a decade in squalid United Nations camps built on toxic wasteland that leached lead and poisoned their children, have long become accustomed to frustration and despair.” These Roma people were herded into the camps following the nation’s war in 1999, and left there without aid from the United Nations despite petitions for help from people like American lawyer Dianne Post. After the United Nations finally addressed the problem in 2016, The Times reported that “Ms. Post, who spent years petitioning the United Nations for redress, said high levels of lead among camp residents had led to miscarriages, stillbirths, premature births and developmental disorders.” She claimed that “An entire generation of Roma children was lost.”
Velasco and Void are both uniquely equipped to tackle this complex issue. They both have built independently successful careers by utilizing their technical talents to give a voice to the travails of regular people. They’ve also known each other for some time.
The left facade of the mural features its title starkly against the building’s natural texture. This portion was completed in Void’s signature script. To the right, one finds a darkly beautiful portrait of the two Roma individuals in question. Dressed in traditional garb, the man in front blows into his trumpet while the woman behind bows her head. The interplay of shadow and highlight amongst the mural’s photorealism render the image particularly striking. It’s a quiet, pensive moment despite its musicality, attributes well at home in both artists’ bodies of work.
In a 2017 interview, Sami Wakim wrote that Velasco’s “Art often deals with an enviable naturalism technique,” and “His photographic, expressive brush stroke style reveals a precise academic technique that contrasts sharply with the rawness of the street content in his works. In that sense, many of his canvases act as a window for us into everyday moments where strangers are caught in the act with their writer friends.”
On his artistic development, Velasco himself explained, “At some point I started to use more brushes and less spray paint on the walls, and therefore to bring this kind of figurative world of the canvases onto the wall. In this process, it was also important to meet Axel Void. I also started to see how he and other artists connected their work to the place where it was painted, and I started to work the same way. So these images that I take of the people I meet during my travels, influenced other elements (narrative and formal) which come from the studio work.”
Axel Void’s biography states that he “was born in Miami in 1986 to a Haitian mother and a Spanish father. He was raised in Spain from the age of three, where he was strongly influenced by classical painting and drawing. Axel Void has been in contact with graffiti writing since 1999. He studied Fine Arts in Cádiz, Granada, and Sevilla, and based himself in Berlin until moving to Miami in 2013, where he currently resides.”
Mural Fest Kosovo focuses on “promoting the artistic community in Ferizaj, empowering and supporting them,” according to the organization’s website. Their event builds upon the city’s budding street art community, and could perhaps be a method for solidifying the nation’s identity moving forward. “All this is a consequence of a larger initiative that would crown the work of Ferizaj’s artists by opting for a larger, international festival, ” states the organization’s site.
Art is a powerful force for bringing people together, even amongst murky national boundaries. I believe that we need to move beyond using national identity alone to forge unity. Our society must begin to value people for their innate personhood, rather than their cultural similarities relative to ourselves. The Times report from September 2017 noted the ways that this was already taking place regarding Europeans’ relationships to the Roma peope, stating that “There are places in Europe where people are finding ways to end this historical ugliness.”
The article continued, “As Rick Lyman reported in The Times this month, the village of Spissky Hrhov in Slovakia is showing what can be done. Two decades ago, jobs were drying up and the population shrinking, leaving a higher percentage of Roma. The village decided to embrace its Roma residents and created community companies to employ them and helped them build decent homes. At that time, Spissky Hrhov’s Roma were living in shacks, and many of their children were sent to separate schools. Today, they have jobs and live in brick houses with running water and electricity. Children are no longer separated at school, and three Roma from the village are in college.”
When we choose to embrace each other, amazing things can happen. Some might not consider such a bold, evolutionarily contradictory move if not for the power of art though, a force of nature that can grab one’s attention and shift their perspective. With ZOGTJE, Velasco and Void make strong strides in depicting the everyday charm of the Roma, one of the world’s most ostracized people due to their lack of concrete land, in a country that itself is struggling for the same. Everybody wants to have a home, but our only true home is the Earth itself. When we see people for what they are, people, we come that much closer to co-habiting a better future.
Axel Void: website | facebook | instagram
Sebas Velasco: website | facebook | instagram
MuralFest Kosovo: website | facebook | instagram
