Campaign Story

We are two artists from Lepina, a small village outside of Prishtina, and our aim is to build a studio where we can paint in a suitable environment. 

Growing up in Lepina we had no possibility to learn and practice art during our early age. Our village has no public transportation, proper education and infrastructure. The house where we live with our family is very small, dark and it is almost impossible for us to work anytime we want. 

Farije: I started painting in 2001 after watching my brother Bajram paint scenes of Roma life. I portrait Romani women, mostly from my imagination, showing their colourful way of dressing up. I want to preserve this tradition and the culture of the Roma with my paintings.

Bajram: As long as I can remember, I always loved to paint. After primary school, on the advice of my parents, I enrolled at the agricultural school in Lipljan for agricultural technician. I wanted to continue to the Academy of Fine Arts, but my parents didn’t have a regular job and therefore didn’t have the money to pay for it. They only had seasonal work as day laborers in the corn fields. In 2000, I heard on the radio that Zoran Živković accepts new students for his private school of painting in Ugljare, a village in the neighbouring municipality. I was overjoyed and called him. He accepted me (free of charge).From then on, whenever I could, I went to the school  and learned a lot from him, almost all painting techniques. I mostly like to paint Roma life, so culture, tradition, rites, our work in the field, cattle keeping, roasting bread in the stone furnace, but I also paint portraits, landscapes and nature as well. 

Farije:  In my paintings I always try to highlight the patterns of scarfs in the portraits i draw. I like the clothes of Roma women. I like their happy colors, their designs, the contrasts on their patterns. As i don’t have the possibility to apply my skills in real materials, the only way to conserve this culture is through painting. With your help I could provide all the necessary resources which would allow me to practice my talent in the methods i always wished to. I also plan to give workshops where i could teach this technique to other people interested.

Bajram: I mostly paint in paper with tempera colors, and when I can sell a painting, I buy with that money materials and oil paints needed for future works. If I had enough materials, my imagination would be much thicker, my painting skills broader and I could have exhibitions of my work. This campaign would also allow me and my sister to have enough space to facilitate workshops, where i would love to give lessons on drawing and painting. 

We strongly believe that art can empower people to not give up on their goals, and we would like to show this to the community where we live. With the facilitation of this studio in our village we would be able to bring people together, and share our knowledge with them. Since many of us don’t have the chance to follow different educational projects in other cities, we would take the chance to bring different artists to our studio so everyone can join and learn from these artist.

With the support of our dear friends Ermal Meta, Rina Dinarama, Erza Dinarama and Katharina Schendl, we were able to have an architectural design of the studio. Which helped us define the technical aspects for the realization of a sustainable structure, and the price required for all the materials needed.

With just a small donation we get closer in making our dream reality. Thank you for your support.

To make our studio possible we need:

Steel construction: 1960 Eur

Concrete slab: 1000 Eur.

Insulated roof: 908 Eur.    

Walls insulation – Stone wool and diffuse layer: 972 Eur.

Interior Insulation of Wood: 2453 Eur.

Different gutters: 180 Eur.

Windows and doors: 1751 Eur.

Water, sewage and electricity installation: 830 Eur.

Working tables and sinks: 700 Eur.

Chairs and working desks for workshops: 970 Eur.

Sewing machine and textile: 670 Eur

Mechanical mesh for textile dyeing: 120Eur.

Fabric: 400 EUr.

Oil colors, textile color, working tools for workshops: 586 Eur.

Platform and bank fee: 1500 Eur.