Part Six
Erëmirë Krasniqi: Tell us about the exhibition you had in Albania and this cultural cooperation that happened in the ‘70s. How did you go? What did you see there? What kind of experience was it?
Fatmir Krypa: To tell you the truth, all we had was what the television and what the media offered us, the press, we didn’t have access to the press. The newspaper only had two pages, Zëri i Popullit [The Voice of the People]. We didn’t have information about art there, only what we could grasp visually, when the statue or the Monument of Independence was unveiled, when it was inaugurated, we saw it on television and that’s what we all saw. I created an idea as much as I could through the television and when I went to see the Monument of Independence oooo {onomatopoeic} that was a masterpiece. You could see the muscle, that art power that had been put into by those sculptors, and was something you could experience on site. So, paintings were less promoted, but you had no other way around a statue of a hero, when there was some inauguration or something, you could see those [on television].
When we were in the Association and we were talking, “Let’s have an exhibition. Let’s open it in Tirana, more? Why not? We could call the Albanian Embassy in Belgrade and get the phone number of the Gallery of Arts in Tirana and we have an exhibition there.” We called the Embassy, and they answered, “A very good idea, but you have to contact the Gallery of Arts in Tirana.” In the meantime, they talked to the Minister of Culture in Tirana, the Gallery of Arts, within minutes they talked to them. “Look, the artists from Kosovo will call and ask about this possibility” and so we called the Gallery of Arts in Tirana.
The Gallery of Arts said, “Yes, the Gallery has nothing against it, a great idea for you to come to Tirana and have an exhibition opening. And the procedures, of course you’ll have to get the visas from the Embassy of Tirana. Tell us the day and we will schedule the hall.” We went there to get the visas, they all got it except me. My passport wasn’t valid. So, I stay and wait for the passport. They went by cars, vans, with the works of art, with the whole exhibition. There was Nuredin Loxha, Shyqri Nimani, Agim Çavdarbasha, Rexhep Ferri, me, Blerim Luzha. I don’t remember all the names, there was also Nuredin Loxha, yes, I mentioned him. They all went with vehicles, Nuredin Loxha had to leave his car in front of Dajt, Hotel Dajt and not move it until the day we came back, he just had to fill the tank with gas and come back, he couldn’t move around with his car, no, no. They had a set agenda, they had cars, everything, I went crazy that I couldn’t go.
I was walking through the korzo and by chance I saw Rexhep Ferri’s sister, Besa. She said, “Fatmir, I’m sorry that you…” she found out through her brother Rexhep that I won’t be able to go because my passport wasn’t valid. I was supposed to reissue it and that took a day, and once I got it I was supposed to travel right away. Unfortunately, I didn’t check the validity of my passport before that, thinking everything was in order. Theirs were valid, they got in the car and went to Belgrade for visas and came back. She said, “Look,” she said, “there’s a way, go check with Putnik, they have flights through Belgrade and Tirana on Wednesday.” I was in the korzo near Hotel Božur, Putnik’s offices were there, the Putnik travel agency.
I saw the guy who worked there closing the office, I said to him, “Wait, wait…” I asked him, he was Serbian, “I have something to ask you.” He said, “Yes?” I said, “Are there flights from Belgrade to Tirana?” He said, “Yes.” “When?” He said, “On Wednesday.” I said, “Great, on Wednesday. What about the ticket?” It was a small plane, it had around six or seven seats, a stewardess and the pilot. If the pilot had a headache, he could easily ask you, “Come, take my seat!” (laughs). There were very few of us. When I saw the plane (laughs), I was petrified. A small plane with ten people inside. Okay, I had my passport reissued. I went to Belgrade early in the morning and got the visa. I went there by train to be safer and avoid malfunctioning buses.
I arrived by train at 10:00 in the morning. I went there immediately, I got off the plane at 5:30 in the afternoon. I went and got the visa. The Embassy opened at 7:00 in the morning. I waited for the Embassy to open, at 7:00 I rang the door, someone came out, “Yes, what do you need?” They were informed by the Gallery of Arts in Tirana that I was coming by plane from Belgrade to Tirana airport, and someone would wait for me.
So, I got through the procedures for the passport, I mean the visa. And the ambassador said to me what I just mentioned, “Don’t be surprised,” he said, “you will be surprised because Rilindja has 36 pages, while Zëri i Popullit has four pages.” I thought to myself, “Let me go because I have no time to explore such topics.” And I said to him, “It depends what’s written on the pages, not how many pages there are.” All I could think is, just hand me the visa that has a stamp on it, because I have a flight to catch. I said, “Mr. Ambassador, I’m going to miss my flight.” From there I went by taxi to Belgrade’s airport. I got on the plane. When my friends from Kosovo waited for me and we opened the exhibition in the Gallery of Arts.
The exhibition was so good, it was so well received, it broke the ice… It was, I don’t know, I’ve been excited for many group and solo shows but not like I was excited for that one. I wondered, what Albania looks like? What did the motherland look like? What did the Gallery look like? What did the people look like? What did the painters look like? What… Everything was at a high level, everything was welcomed, everything was civilized, we presented nicely, my colleagues and I tried to do our best.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: Very different, it was very different from their art at that time. They did [socialist] realism, you did [socialist] modernism…
Fatmir Krypa: Yes, there was a comment about Malsori [The Mountaineer], another mountaineer had his back turned, “Why is his back turned?” They asked. Yes, that one over there {points at the print}, I said, for example, “Look,” I said, “he is taking note of posters, looking at the spot where posters are hung. He is taking note of things in front of him, he can’t do that if he is looking at you. He can’t turn towards you and look with his neck turned.” It was a little weird that I had to explain that, that seemed abstract to them. Even though it was realism, the scarf, the details, everything had a realistic approach. But why turn around? He can’t take note of things otherwise. How do you see it? How do you do it? You can’t show the profile of the subject and have him engage with what’s in front of him.
It was a bit odd… though I offered my support, but still it was like that. Things were a little elusive, even though as artists they knew that’s how it was supposed to be, but some were from higher politics, “Why do they create such things? Accept this kind of art?” One of them was Edi Rama’s father, Kristaq Rama, was secretary for culture. Edi Rama’s father was even taller than Edi, Kristaq was…. And then we gave our explanations, those that we had. But, the exhibition was well-received by both sides. There were so many visitors during the opening but also during the whole month or so it stayed open. We stayed for about two weeks then half of us went back. Agim [Çavdarbasha] stayed, Rexhep Ferri stayed because his brother was also there, and I said, “I don’t want to go,” I said, “I want to stay one more week,” I said…
Erëmirë Krasniqi: You could continue your stay?
Fatmir Krypa: Yes, yes, Shyqyri also stayed because his mother was there. The rest came back with Nuredin Loxha because he had the car, and they went back. So, it was a somewhat different experience from other exhibitions we had. When Culture Week was happening in ‘96-‘97, we went there. The Culture Week of Kosovo, there was music, concerts, theatre drama, we had exhibitions, solo and group shows, and a few people. Muslim Mulliqi and I had an exhibition, Agim Çavdarbasha had a solo show with his sculptures, Shyqri had a solo show and I joined a group of painters. There were five other painters and I. So, there was quite a big group of artists from Kosovo in all genres and that was a great event that words cannot describe. The barriers were removed, everything was removed. Everything uncensored was there. You know, everything became better and better.
Baton [Haxhiu] was the organizer, he said, “Please welcome him, as the oldest from the painter’s group, please welcome Sali Berisha.” Sali Berisha came, he was the president, he was the president of Albania at that time, and he came to the opening of the exhibition. And as the oldest among participating artists I welcomed Sali Berisha, where the big mosaic is in the National Gallery. I got in front of it, you had to, it wasn’t possible otherwise to lead the tour. I welcomed him, then I explained those, I explained the purpose of the exhibition. Then together with Baton Haxhiu, with a group of painters, Sali Berisha was with a person from the Ministry of Culture. We talked about the work, how the process went, how it’s going, the reasons why we did it. It was very good that he got acquainted there, because there was no politics. Everything was transparent about art and for the good of humanity, it was in favor of getting better acquainted with one another, of somehow getting closer to one another.
This was the exhibition, the second one was amazing for that time. And I believe that an exhibition of mine will be scheduled after the one I was going to have in Skopje, after the exhibition I had in Tetovo. The museum had scheduled me to open the exhibition in March, in April. But due to health reasons, I had eye surgery and postponed it. Now I have to make another request, even though I have received the financial means from the Ministry of Culture, I have to make a request with the Gallery of Arts in Tirana, to the museum, to schedule me this year to have an exhibition. I have many colleagues, many friends, and I have many admirers. I have Facebook admirers who can’t wait to visit an exhibition of graphic arts.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: How did they fire you in the ‘90s? How did it come to that political climate? How did they make you leave?
Fatmir Krypa: Well, like elsewhere, also in the Faculty of Arts began repressions of the then regime. Indications were such that something better is to be done in their way, and insisted that we subordinate and align our work ideologically, both in terms of art and in terms of pedagogy. The same colleague with whom I have studied, who as I said before, hadn’t invited anyone else but me to his wedding, a colleague with whom I collaborate, I shared a classroom with; I used it half the time and he used it half of the time. The colleague whose classes I taught for a year, he still got paid and went to study, he went to explore his practice, we used to refer to it as preparation for a solo show.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: Like artistic research?
Fatmir Krypa: Artistic research, something like that. One year, the Faculty gave him a year off with pay, but he had to find someone to replace him. He asked me, “Will you teach, teach my classes?” I said, “Yes, I’ll do this for you, you can do it for me and there’s nothing wrong with it. Go!” He made the request, it was approved, he left! He took a year off to do research, prepared for his solo show, and did study visits in different places. It was the day of the entrance exam, and he came to the professors’ hall to ask me how many students to accept.
We stayed in quarantine from eight to twelve thirty, as long as the classes were held, but we quarantined in the classroom. You could smoke, have conversations, eventually a lady would make you a coffee, she would bring coffee. If you went out of the building, they would bring the sign-in sheet sometime at eight, ten, eleven, or nine. You never knew when they will bring the sign-in sheet. We all had to stay there as if we were quarantined. Whether you had work or not, we didn’t have lectures, we hadn’t accepted the students yet. We had to go to show up because the academic year had started. But we had to be there from 8 a.m. until 12:30 p.m.
My colleague Zoran Jovanović came and opened the door… from shame that he couldn’t see his colleagues like that, stranded in that situation. Professors who had many years of experience and were just standed. We would eventually play a game that required patience, we played chess or something to pass the time. He said to me, “How many students will we enroll this year in the graphic arts department?” I said, “As usual, three or four Albanians and a Serb.” I said, “You can enroll two Serbs.” He said, “You’re still following that {rolls his finger} old quota?” He said that to me. He said, “One in two, one in four.” I said, “Zoran, this is how we used to do it, this is how the population is,” I said, “the population structure.” I said, “You can enroll two for you, and three for me. You get two students and that’s it for the first year.” “What do you think?
I said, “Why are you treating me like this, like you’re talking to,” I said, “a pig? I kept you alive” you know, “for a year? With my money you stayed in Belgrade. You roamed around Europe while I held your classes.” I said, “You got paid,” I said, “you traveled like a boss.” I said, “How are you not ashamed?” I grabbed him here {touches his throat} I just touched him, I said, “I fed this throat of yours for a year with my money.” {Raises his forefinger} “Uh,” he said, “why did you touch my hand? Tappp {onomatopoetic} You’ll see!” I said, “Wait, what happened?” “You’ll see!” He went to the room where the commission was.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: Employee review commission…?
Fatmir Krypa: No, no, there was a group who monitored other professors whether they were coming or not, it was like a council of theirs.
Erëmirë Krasniqi: For violent measures?
Fatmir Krypa: Violent measures began, the Council of Violent Measures, he was a member of the Council of Violent Measures. He went to this Council and said, “Write this about Fatmir rraaak, rraaak, rraaak {onomatopoeic}” And right there I understood what was going to happen to me. I sat there with my colleagues and the cleaner who I had hired when I was the dean came in. She came with a file, in fact it was a book and asked me to sign a letter for suspension, she said, “Professor,” she said, “excuse me, can you sign this?” I said, “What is this?” Pretending I didn’t know, you know. She said, “You know, professor…” I said, “Okay, bring it here.” I signed it and she left. I said, “Comrades, colleagues, you continue to be here today and tomorrow while you can, but I’m leaving.” Musli Mulliqi was fired first, I was second.
So I continued my work and art practices. I had a studio on the 13th floor in Qafa, it was 24 square meters large, it was under the roof, roughly 20 square meters. How can you have a 20-square-meter studio? In the studio you had to have a small bathroom, you had to have a small kitchen. You had to work, work where? Where to place the print machine, the desk, I had to have a sofa if a friend would come to visit. But I managed somehow, it was okay. The new academic year had started.
I told the second-year students to come on Monday, third-year students, because it was only in the second year that they would have classes with us. In the first year they had general courses, there was one professor that mentored all groups in the first year, while I taught them in the second year graphic arts. The third-year students came on Wednesday, on Tuesday, third-year students on Wednesday and I said to them, “If you have something you want to develop further, you can continue working on Thursday also.”
I wanted to give them these zinc plates because they didn’t have any. All the materials, pigments, acids, I had to give them because they didn’t have anything. I had to turn winter into summer. I had to heat up the studio with heaters during the winter so it would be warm for them. But who even asks you about that? All the knowledge I gave them was the least I could do, never sparing anything, I was invested in the very last cell. And that’s how the first, second, third year ended, and so on.
And it was a surprise when one year they came, when the war was about to break out in ‘99, the U.S. Ambassador for Foreign Affairs to Europe and Asia came, they divided them by continents, there’s a Minister of Foreign Affairs in general and also one for Europe and Asia, each have their continents that they cover and they all assist. He came to meet [Ibrahim] Rugova, President Rugova, and they talked, ate dinner together and all went well. When he came the second time around, after two-three months, Adnan [Merovci] from LDK called me, “Fatmir, how do you know the Ambasador?” I said, “Not really, I don’t, I’ve only seen him on television. I don’t know him at all.” “Well, he asked to come to your studio” he said, “to see him” he said, “to meet him.” He has written to us, “I want to visit Krypa’s studio, Professor Krypa’s art studio and meet him in person.”
I said, “No, I don’t know him.” Anyway, he said, “When can we come over?” I said, “Whenever you’re available.” He said, “We will eat at three, and around ten minutes past ten we will be there.” Restaurant Ora was around three hundred meters away from Qafa, so they walked to the studio. They came to the studio, Skender Hyseni… they sent three bodyguards beforehand. He said, “One has to stay here.” I said, “No problem.” He said, “The other one has to stay in the elevator downstairs and one at the elevator upstairs.” The other one said, “Where do I stay?” I said, “Stay by the window.” the print machine was next to the window, I said, “Stay next to the print machine, there’s no other place.” I said, “The rest can sit here, there’s not much space.” Anyhow.
When he came through the door he introduced himself the way Americans do it. He said, “I was given a gift, a print of yours by President Rugova in the previous visit before this one, three months ago, and I have framed it and I have it in my home, in my living room. My colleagues, my friends, my family like it, I also like it. I came here to meet you,” he said, “personally and see the place where that work of art was created. I thought to myself, “Kuku.” This was that one {points to the print} the second one down, I said… I wanted something to say, Skender Hyseni was Rugova’s translator then.
I told Skender to tell him, “Ardit Gjebra says, ‘Here I am’ [his song’s title]” I said, “but there’s not enough space here, but hajerli may it be, please welcome in.” There was also the secretary of the Embassy of Belgrade, Elizabeth Bonkowski, they were looking through, looking at the drawings, I also showed them the students’ works. I said, “If you have time, five minutes,” I said, “two or three minutes,” I said, “to look at the students’ works.” They looked at them one by one and they were talking to each other, and started discussing them, and I said, “Skender, can I speak to them in French?” I said, “Let’s not hold them for too long because it will be a lot of work to translate.” I said, “So that I don’t bother you.” “No, no worries,” he said, “they can talk and then I’ll translate.” “Okay.” I said.
When it was done he said, “They want you to have an exhibition in Belgrade, so that they can somehow compensate you for the expenditures you have around your students.” I said, “To Belgrade I can’t go, no” I said, “I can’t, I am too scared.” He said, “Where do you want to have the exhibition then?” He said, “In the Embassy, in the Library on Čika-Ljubina [street in Belgrade]”. I said, “I’ve passed that street every day as a student, I have your magazines,” I said, “Pregled [Review], culture magazine in Serbian,” It was about visual arts and all arts, it was called Pregled, The Review. “You got Pregled?” I said, “Here, I have it.” I took three copies that I had, “Here they are issues of Pregled!” I said, I put them on the table one by one tak-tak-tak {onomatopoeic}. “Ah, give me the address, we’ll publish them in Albanian, now we’re also publishing them in Albanian.” I said, “Oh, that’s great.”
Anyway, we agreed that I would go to Belgrade and he said, “What are your prices?” I said, “I know the prices in Belgrade, but I’ll come up with an average comparing it to Kosovo’s prices. In Belgrade they would cost 600, 700, 800 more, here I would sell them for 300, 350. So we’ll sell them for around 350, 400”. He said, “Okay, good.” We agreed that I would go. That happened, no… I asked to go with Edita Tahiri, I said, “Edita, since you’re going, can I come also.” There were four people, we were going to go by car. It was President Rugova, Adnan, Edita and the driver. I said, “Can I drive with you there?” She said, “No, no, no, you will go there by plane.” The war started in Prekaz, it happened as it happened, and they fought for 24 hours. So, we didn’t have an exhibition opening there and, since then the relationship with Serbia had worsened, and the exhibition never happened.
I didn’t care much for it, because I had already opened an exhibit in Belgrade, I showed myself, I held a lecture at the museum, they invited me. They invited me to hold lectures on graphics during the ‘70s… ‘88. In the year ‘88, the situation was complicated before it became confusing. The museum invited me to hold a lecture. When I saw my name there Fatmir Krypa aaa {onomatopoeic} my heart grew, I said, “This is good.” They had written my name with an “y”, the way it is. “This is the hour the lecture starts, this is the topic.” God helped me, but I also had prepared everything. I had printed that graphic there {points to the wall} and the museum bought it. The museum has it, I took it on purpose so they would see how it is properly printed. The museum director told me, “Professor, are you stressed, because the professor from Slovenia last night,” she said, “his print failed because he was so stressed.” “No, I have many pedagogical years of experience.” She said, “He was older than you and it failed.”
You know it’s really hard to print it, you have to work for around an hour and 40 minutes, work while talking, think about what I’m talking about in the middle of Belgrade and have it come out great. I thought about it, I did some preparations in advance, I prepared the colors, I prepared everything so I don’t mess it up, so everything was ready. When I saw my professors in the audience, there were more than two hundred people. My emotions were high and that moment, I will never forget that moment. When you print the work and you take it from under, you take the sheet and lift it up, they can see how it was printed, but you don’t see it.
When I heard the applause rra rra rra {onomatopoeic} and they weren’t stopping, I turned it a little {pretends to hold the sheet with both hands}towards me and looked at it (laughs). I said, “God,” I said, “bravo.” I’ve never said that to myself, I said, “Bravo, and I’m thankful for the experience you’ve acquired and that it came out so well and other things.” It wasn’t for my name’s sake, there were other things weighing in. I wasn’t being perceived as a name and surname, but as a nation, as everything. It came out great and when I saw my name on two floors, six meters high, they had hung it down from upthere. I said, “Thankfully, it is in the center of Belgrade,” But back then we didn’t have these kinds of cameras. If I had a photographer with me and had taken a photo in front of that, it would have been a masterpiece.