Unity through graffiti

By Shree Dubey

Alice and I spent the entire trip taking photos of graffiti in Pristina and Mitrovica. The project started out somewhat unplanned - we agreed that we would go there, see what we could find and think about the rest afterwards. While in Kosovo, we realised that we needed to interview some locals about some of our selected graffiti, and so we spent a lot of time on the 12th of June, the 17th of June and the 18th of June taking photos at Rruga B., Pristina University Rectorate and in Mitrovica, respectfully. 

I believe that our project was perhaps the best way to explore Pristina. We would just walk in whatever direction and come across interesting things on the walls of random buildings. It was very intriguing trying to understand Kosovo through messages like “Women work even on Sundays”, “Astrit Dehari” and “Is life always this hard or is [it] just when you’re a kid?” It pushed me to explore the underlying issues of society even deeper, and meeting with organisations like the Kosovo Women’s Network only added to my learning about the young country’s grievances.

 

Going to Kosovo, I was excited to explore the “hidden meanings” of the country expressed through unspoken words. We came across numerous social and political graffiti, but I found it ironic that although these messages were probably left when no authorities were around to stop people, in no way did I see the messages as “hidden”. They were clear, bold and challenged everyone to see them and deal with the issues head-on. I learned that a lot of messages are another perspective of the locals in Kosovo. The messages in Mitrovica were more ethnically divisive, for example, and that makes sense given the geographical location of the city and its connections to Serbia.

 

Whatever perspective Alice and I stumbled across, I appreciate that the one thing in common they all had was that they were written or drawn with the motive to express socio-political ideas and frustrations. The graffiti in Pristina and Mitrovica unite through this very factor of shared personal discontent with the issues Kosovo has faced in the past and is currently facing. 

One of the biggest things I have learned throughout the trip and our graffiti project is that peacebuilding needs to be sustainable. Youths, minorities and disadvantaged groups need to be a part of the process to rebuild society into a better state than it was before, and this cannot be done without a mutual understanding of personal narratives and how it collectively shapes history. I found it inspiring that, despite past events or maybe also because of it, a lot of people like the staff at Community Building Mitrovica and the locals we interviewed in Pristina were willing to work together to move forward as Kosovars.