Unveiling the 17th Gjon Mili International Photography & Moving Image Exhibition: Exciting Announcements Await!

The National Gallery of Kosovo is thrilled to share the list of artists participating in the 17th Gjon Mili International Exhibition of Photography and Moving Image. Curated by Valentine Umansky (Tate Modern, London), She Who Starts the Song… showcases creations by 23 artists, primarily originating from the Balkans, chosen through an open invitation.

The exhibition draws its influence from tepsijanje, a customary musical tradition established in Kosovo, predominantly performed by women. This distinctive form intertwines melodic singing with the rhythmic rotation of a copper pan (tepsija). In this context, tepsijanje serves as a symbol for inherited actions—transmitted from mother to daughter—that connect generations with their predecessors. Concentrating on an unnamed female vocalist, the exhibition delves into gendered customs and their continuous challenge, scrutinizing photography, moving images, and sonic practices as impactful means and repositories of intergenerational narratives.

The exhibition pays tribute to filmmaker Trinh T. Minh-ha who, in Woman, Native, Other, portrayed the diseuse—the storyteller, thought-woman, griotte, and fortune-teller—as an individual whose truths unravel over time. “If you have the patience to listen, she will take delight in relating it to you.” [1] The pieces in She Who Starts the Song… embody these archetypes, encouraging viewers to engage with the ancestral narratives conveyed by grandmothers.

The initial segment of the exhibition features works by Huda Takriti, Kristina Benjocki, Joanna Piotrowska, Lebohang Kganye, and Angela Blažanović, each engaging with fragmented recollections and the (im)possibility of retracing family ancestry. Like the whirling of a tepsija, their measured, intentional movements revive ancestral narratives at the risk of being forgotten.

The wind then intensifies. The howl and hum amplify. As Ivana Bašić’s lung-like glass sculptures represent the breath that formed them, Saodat Ismailova’s amulets, resembling talismans, murmur a melody that transcends time. Clarissa Tossin’s installation revitalizes pre-Columbian Mayan wind instruments through 3D-printed replicas of those found in museum collections, re-energizing Indigenous knowledge systems by allowing sound to resonate once more. Lala Raščić, whose work inspired the exhibition’s title, together with Semâ Bekirović and Astrit Ismaili, wrestle with the tepsija as an object, exploring methods to “spin out” of confining customs and oppressive societal frameworks.

As the exhibition nears its conclusion, it shifts focus to themes of rebellion and freedom. From the relentless efforts of factory laborers in Željka Gita Blakšić’s artwork to the lasting wounds of war in Stanislava Pinchuk’s installation, these works interrogate the enduring image of the hag—unmarried, childless, independent women often demonized for their autonomy. Here, the storyteller transforms into conjurers and spider women, reclaiming strength in movements that both challenge and liberate.

“I wanted to write about silences and terror and acts that hover over generations, over centuries. I began by writing about my mother and my grandmother.” [2]

Participating artists include: Ivana Basić, Kristina Benjocki, Semâ Bekirović, Angela Blažanović, Željka Gita Blakšić, Vera Hadzhiyska, Majlinda Hoxha, Astrit Ismaili, Saodat Ismailova, Šejla Kamerić, Lebohang Kganye, Ana Likar, Glorija Lizde, Maria Mavropoulou, Klodiana Millona & Endi Tupja, Joanna Piotrowska, Stanislava Pinchuk, Iva Radivojević, Lala Raščić, Simon Shiroka, Huda Takriti, and Clarissa Tossin.
 

[1] Trinh T. Minh-ha, ‘Grandma’s Story’ in Woman, Native, Other: Writing Postcoloniality and Feminism, 1989, Indiana University Press, pp.119–139.

[2] Christina Sharpe, Ordinary Notes, 2023, Daunt Books, pp. 26.

Supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Kosova and Raiffeisen Bank.