Family Programme – Arts and Crafts – Defeating Fear Workshop with Dardan and Hajrije Pllana Zhegrova

While growing up we hear various stories and myths created in need to bridge children’s learning and coping with reality. As kids we have been always told to take care of Babaroga – a figure, which was never materialized, left to the people’s imagination to interpret.

Continuously it was used in moments of fear, an imaginary figure to which we can refer at any time and circumstances when we need to be cautious of danger. Through the mediation made possible by the work Your enthusiasm to tell a story, a series of brightly colored, human-sized voodoo dolls by the artist Dardan Zhegrova we aim to open the possibility to re-invasion the figure of Babaroga.

Dardan and Hajrije, together they created unabashedly vulnerable and weirdly familiar dolls in quest for intimacy. Therefore, their story will become our example and practice on how to co-create among generations, how to re-envision Babaroga from a figure of fear to a figure that allows caretakers and parents to re-create forms of learning through care and intimacy.

Each kid together with their companion throughout the workshop will have the chance to create their Babaroga doll with the support of Manifesta 14 staff and will have the chance to learn from Dardan and Hajrije’s skills. After the workshop, the dolls will be given to each kid who created them.  

The Arts and Crafts program is based on various specific artistic projects exhibited at Manifesta 14 Prishtina venues. The intention of this programme relays on the need to expand and transform the conceptual frame of artistic expression, through settings where knowledge exchange can be triggered by the creativity of the participants. With the help of the participating artists of Manifesta 14, the children alongside their companions, will be invited to join each month different workshops and themes.  

*For this workshop we recommend you visit the work of Dardan Zhegrova at the Grand Hotel Prishtina under the topic on love commissioned by Manifesta 14 Prishtina.