Manifesta purposely strives to keep its distance from what are often seen as the dominant centres of artistic production, instead seeking fresh and fertile terrain for the mapping of a new cultural topography.
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Jakup Ferri, RKS
Frekuenca Çiltërsia (The Frequency of Frankness), 2012-2022, © Jakup Ferri. Photo © Manifesta 14 Prishtina / Majlinda Hoxha.
“Our job is to live in a thick time of caring for and with each other”, writes theorist Donna Haraway. “That’s neither optimistic nor pessimistic, but it involves cultivating the capacity to keep a kind of love and heart with each other”. The caring for and with she has in mind is “multi-species, multi-racial, multi-kinded”.
Working in a post-conflict society, Jakup Ferri follows much the same lines as Haraway in his practice. Influenced by outsider and vernacular art, though predominantly guided by his own intuition and imagination, Ferri draws all manner of creatures conversing, collaborating and co-existing. Plants, animals, humans and hybrids all share the same magical picnic blanket, as it were: they make kin with one another.
The artist’s minutely detailed drawings are the place where he does his thinking. They also serve as the model for his paintings, embroideries and carpets, the latter two being produced together with traditional craftspeople. “Our job is to live in a thick time of caring for and with each other”, writes theorist Donna Haraway. “That’s neither optimistic nor pessimistic, but it involves cultivating the capacity to keep a kind of love and heart with each other”. The caring for and with she has in mind is “multi-species, multi-racial, multi-kinded”.