Duhen drut të bëhet zjarri - We need firewood to make a fire

2024, video installation, Spazio Arberia, Pallagorio (KR), Italy

The cry of depopulation becomes a call to future ancestors through a new reactionary rituality. Resilience is displayed as the substance of the work, showcasing its malleability and sensitivity to capturing the demands of the territory. An ancient Arbëresh dance of unity transforms into a dance of disintegration, a bell (forged by those forced into exile) is rung in hostile circumstances, and a funeral chant is pierced by the tongues of a bonfire. In the square, a sheet is scorched by the coal from the fires of the Calabrian landscape. Each black scar marks a year spent away from home. Slowly, a new ritual emerges, reincarnating those primordial principles necessary for processing collective trauma.

The image

The title “Duhen drut të bëhet zjarri” explores the rituals of Arbëresh identity as a key to studying migration from one’s homeland. “Duhen drut të bëhet zjarri” consists of a performance and a series of videos.

Era - The Wind (performance)
Participants mark, on an ancient embroidered white sheet, the years they have spent away from their birthplace. To draw a line on the sheet, pieces of coal taken from the region’s charred forests are made available. Meanwhile, letters about distance (written by the community itself) can be read aloud.

Ujët, dheu, zjarri - The Water, the Earth, the Fire (video series)
The "ballo della vagha", a collective dance symbolizing unity, gradually dissolves, transforming into a solitary dance. Similarly, the ancient funeral chant "Asteriòni", once sung in chorus, is reduced to a single voice. Finally, Pietro, the bell ringer, continues to ring the bells daily to keep alive the memory of his people, reminding the children of Pallagorio, wherever they may be, of their deep connection to their homeland with the sound that "resounds over mountains and plains" (Phrase taken from the inscription on the bells of the Church of the Carmine, Pallagorio (KR).

Credits