Some Humans As Statues Some Not
Tirana Institute of Contemporary Art, Albania. May 2007
Some Humans as Statues Some Not
Photo series
“Historical turning points and the return of the memory
Some time ago Blendi Fevziuo told me about the surprise he had felt when, while he was interviewing people in order to gather material for a TV program, he found out that a significant part of them (and especially the young) showed a shocking lack of knowledge and indifference vis-à-vis our history, including the communist period. At first sight, this would seem to contradict the impression one gets when one notice how much space our press dedicates to the debates on history, or the so-called ‘memoirs’. (…)
During the whole of known history, there have been just as many advocates of memory, in other words, people who have believed that the truth about the past must be confronted irrespective of the price paid, as there have been others who have defended the opinion that there are moments when it is better for society to forget. (…)
Like everywhere else, the revisionism of history did not stop with the period of the Communism.
By casting a shadow of doubt on the official version of history believed up to that time, the collapse of Communism naturally produced a general trend towards the revision of history on the whole. It brought about a debate on many of the pages of history on which total silence had been maintained before. The sole possible discourse of the time of Communism – when all dissident was prohibited – now is multiplied, fragmented, and contested by a series of other discourses, by spokesmen of various interests, and by different visions and memories which sometimes go against each other. As a result we have at the same time a crisis of memory and of the pluralism of memories.”
Extracts from text by Piro Misha, Tirana Times (weekly Albanian newspaper), April 6 2007
Photo series
“Historical turning points and the return of the memory
Some time ago Blendi Fevziuo told me about the surprise he had felt when, while he was interviewing people in order to gather material for a TV program, he found out that a significant part of them (and especially the young) showed a shocking lack of knowledge and indifference vis-à-vis our history, including the communist period. At first sight, this would seem to contradict the impression one gets when one notice how much space our press dedicates to the debates on history, or the so-called ‘memoirs’. (…)
During the whole of known history, there have been just as many advocates of memory, in other words, people who have believed that the truth about the past must be confronted irrespective of the price paid, as there have been others who have defended the opinion that there are moments when it is better for society to forget. (…)
Like everywhere else, the revisionism of history did not stop with the period of the Communism.
By casting a shadow of doubt on the official version of history believed up to that time, the collapse of Communism naturally produced a general trend towards the revision of history on the whole. It brought about a debate on many of the pages of history on which total silence had been maintained before. The sole possible discourse of the time of Communism – when all dissident was prohibited – now is multiplied, fragmented, and contested by a series of other discourses, by spokesmen of various interests, and by different visions and memories which sometimes go against each other. As a result we have at the same time a crisis of memory and of the pluralism of memories.”
Extracts from text by Piro Misha, Tirana Times (weekly Albanian newspaper), April 6 2007
