Petrit Helilaj: House and Memory

“The house is a central element in Halilaj’s work which not only
raise questions about dealing with one’s personal past and one’s own understanding of home, but also becomes a symbol of a national tragedy and evidence of global politics.”

Petrit Halilaj, It is the first time dear, that you have a human shape (detail), 2012. Photo Credit: Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen, Gunnar Meier

Petrit Halilaj: House & Memory

Petrit Halilaj does not shy away from using his personal biography as a source for his work. The Kosovan artist’s childhood memories, centered on the drama of war and the subsequent refugee tragedy, are the inspiration for his creation of complex and often monumental installations. For him, the search for home is still a significant theme. A subject which is influenced both by world history as well as a personal definition of one’s own identity. In his practice, Halilaj uses simple materials such as earth but also live chickens and found archives from vanished museums in Kosovo to illustrate this permanent quest. His exhibitions are precisely conceived narrations that move an audience.

At Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen Petrit Halilaj is presenting new works which are evidence his continuous endeavor to exhibit what has been lost and thereby to come closer to abstract concepts of home and identity. Oversized reconstructions of various pieces of his mother’s jewelry will be on view at the exhibition. During the war she buried the original valuables along with her son’s childhood drawings in a casket on their land in Kosovo to protect them from looters. Alongside these large-format sculptures Halilaj is also showing the drawings which have survived. These impressively demonstrate how important the transformation of experiences into art already was for him at a very early age. The jewelry and drawings are simultaneously carriers of memory as well as elements that create identity. In this exhibit, they symbolically read as a declaration of love for his mother and his home country.

The ruin of his family home in Kostërrc, which was destroyed in the war and which already played an important role in earlier pieces, will also appear in St. Gallen in various forms. The house is a central element in Halilaj’s work which not only raise questions about dealing with one’s personal past and one’s own understanding of home, but also becomes a symbol of a national tragedy and evidence of global politics. His jewelry sculptures are created with pigments and building materials from the debris of the ruins. Other pieces of rock serve as seating for watching a video in which the ruins undergo a gentle revitalization.

Petrit Halilaj, Who does the earth belong to while painting the wind? is on view from 21 July – 23 September 2012 at Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen Davidstrasse 40 CH-9000 St. Gallen.

Petrit Halilaj, exhibition view, Who does the earth belong to while painting the wind?!, 2012.
Photo Credit: Kunst Halle Sankt Gallen, Gunnar Meier

“The house is a central element in Halilaj’s work which not only raise questions about dealing with one’s personal past and one’s own understanding of home, but also becomes a symbol of a national tragedy and evidence of global politics.”

“The house is a central element in Halilaj’s work which not only
raise questions about dealing with one’s personal past and one’s own understanding of home, but also becomes a symbol of a national tragedy and evidence of global politics.”