Two talented siblings, Farije and Bajram Mehmeti, live in a village called Lepina, located out of Priština. The village has bad infrastructure, no transportation, and virtually no contact with the arts. Regardless of that, the two of them have been painting for years now, and wish to continue their artistic education and provide the same opportunity to kids and young people from their village. With the help of friends, they have set up a crowdfunding campaign on the KosovaIdeas platform, and now need a bit of help to finish what they started.

Unable to get a proper art training, but with a love for art that stems from childhood, Bajram got involved with art more seriously when he reached out to a local painter, who took him as a student, and taught him all the painting techniques that he knew about. Then, Farije also started painting after seeing her brother do it. The two of them have different styles and are interested in different subjects: he finds inspiration in nature and scenes of Roma life, and she loves painting vibrant portraits of Romani women and their colorful headscarves, and the textile that is a part of their culture, but both of them use art as a way of expressing themselves and preserving their culture and tradition.

This project would provide them with the necessary space to continue working on their own pieces, and also teaching art to young people who don’t have an access to it. An art studio built from a metal container, envisioned by their architect friends, would cover the basic, pressing need that they deal with daily. Another great thing about this crowdfunding platform is also that they have budgets listed for each project - in this case, all the necessary materials and estimated prices of the building of the studio, ensuring transparency of each campaign. A small donation can go a long way for causes like this: help these two artists continue working on their dreams, and bring more people together with art in all the remote corners of the region.

Source: https://kosovaideas.com/