ARTIST PROFILE

Driton Selmani

  • Kosovo (b. 1987 in Ferizaj)
  • Currently in Prishtina and Doganaj, Kosovo.
  • Visual Artist Arts University Bournemouth UK
They say you can't hold two watermelons in one hand

They say you can't hold two watermelons in one hand

  • 2012
  • Digital Photograph
  • They say you can’t hold two watermelons in one hand, 2012 C-Print on aluminium, 150x100 cm, Kunstraum Niederösterreich, Vienna
  • 150x100 C-Print on Aluminium

  • The image was shot between the Albania-Kosovo border, on a bridge that separates the two countries in a sort of no man’s land. The artist is thus portrayed in the attempt to hold the fruits and unstably maintain his balance. Text: Claudio Cravero

  • Driton selmani 20  20they 20say 20you 20can't 20hold 20two 20watermelons 20in 20one 20hand 150x100cm 20c print
  • Ancona 003
  • Milano 001
  • Eye to Eye - thumbnail Not only our homes have been burned, our souls too  - thumbnail Red Tape - thumbnail They say you can't hold two watermelons in one hand - thumbnail Untitled Union - thumbnail Raw and the Cooked - thumbnail Wanderlust - thumbnail My country on my back - thumbnail Off - thumbnail The importance of being a fairytale - thumbnail Romeo - thumbnail Call it fate, Call it Karma! - thumbnail Archaeology of Capitalism - thumbnail Deaf - thumbnail I, Why, Why ? - thumbnail Tell me where I am from? - thumbnail Mixed Principalities - thumbnail

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    Selected Works | 2012 - 2018

Selmani approaches the idea of perceived reality by deconstructing formations of social, political and cultural topics that have been embodied around him. At a young age, he was told to worship a country that no longer existed, which caused him to form a basis of scepticism towards any supposedly given reality. He later used this as a beneficial tool to reconstruct his beliefs into visual artefacts. In 1999, old simulacra have been replaced by new simulacra; the ornaments of a previous space have been refurbished in order to unfold with new meanings but also new uncertainties. Selmani confronts himself as a spectator of this “on-going event”, but rather positions himself as an actor, enacting his performances based on his personal histories, beliefs and doubts.