Dardan Zhegrova (b. 1991, Pristina, Kosovo) is both an artist as an activist and journalist engaged in defending human rights, particularly in the recognition of LGBTQI+ people. For Zhegrova art is a means of expression accessible to all, which allows one to open up to others by allowing the inner self to transpire through the manifestation of fantasies.

For the series titled Your enthusiasm to tell a story (begun in 2015), he fashioned naïve-looking, life-size dolls with simple but very expressive features, to which he lends his voice. They are directly inspired from the artist’s experiences attending the Dodona Puppet Theater as a child. Founded in 1986 the Dodona Theater is considered to be an important place of Albanian cultural resistance and played a crucial role for the emancipation of the Albaniansin Kosovo throughout the nineties. These ‘voodoo dolls’, as the artist has named them, are encountered in all corners of the exhibition space. They are here, leaning against a wall, in slouched positions that make them appear tenderly vulnerable. They whisper poems to an imaginary person, reflecting Zhegrova’s melancholy and emotional journey, as well as his queer identity, through the use of gender-neutral language. By favouring chance encounters with the artwork in unexpected places, Zhegrova posits a different experience, a relationship to art that is direct and frank,horizontal rather than transcendental. Thinking about how the museum reflects and welcomes social diversitynecessitates a rethinking of how artworks are presented, in order to forge a dialogue with the visitor and sidestep thedogmatic character associated with the typical model of exhibitions.