Black Lamb and Grey Falcon: Kosovo
Black Lamb and Grey Falcon:
Four Journeys in Kosovo
In her 1941 classic of travel literature, “Black Lamb and Grey Falcon (BLGF),” Dame Rebecca West undertakes a two-month journey through Yugoslavia in an attempt to better understand this complex, volatile South-eastern corridor of Europe, as for her it was crucial in beginning to understand, as she put it, “my own destiny.”
As a travel writer, my project was born out of a fascination and love for West’s prescient and spiritual writings, and my travels in Kosovo have taken me on an unexpected deviation as I explored the meaning sealed within her pages. “Four Journeys in Kosovo” is a narrative divided into four chapters: City, Fantasy, Memory, and Periphery.
Unlike West’s work, which is strictly nonfiction, my own photographs have collectively strayed into realms of fiction, horror, and even magical realism. In Kosovo, I began developing my photographs by hand at home, often using expired film stocks I found in the country, as well as cross-processing color slides. What remains is evidence of a journey that explores the divide between reality and mystery, and poses the question of whether examining the past can lead to a vision of our shared human destiny.
More images and writing excerpts available upon request.