Fustanella ime, 2018. Photographic series, color, dimensions variable. “My fustanella” is the common title of a series of images produced in the specific context of contemporary Gjirokastër (Albania), in order to raise awareness about the state of abandonment in both symbolic and real sense of the term. These photographic documents of ruined or closed down buildings (in the presence of a man in ‘skirt’) are bearing witness to the most affected areas inside the old city’s urban structures in demand for proper restoration and renewal. They create a new space of reflection about the problems that the city’s heritage has been facing over the years of devastation and negligence. Without hiding the seductive part of a hurt, yet sexualized body of a ruin, these photographs disclose performative aspects of males wearing fustanella outside of its traditional use and how the presence of a man – more undressed than covered by uniform, walking the streets of old Bazaar without shoes, as if it was his sleeping room – re-creates our awareness about the manifold layers of Gjirokastër’s public sphere, including its mythologies and gender stereotypes.
