JETON MUJA . Reflections of a Journey

Cars, trains and buses have always been an indispensable phenomenon in daily life. However, in my country these means of transportation have recently become a symbol of suffering, of challenge and hardship, of the search for a better and more secure life. With the one word, they have become a symbol of “Migration”.

I have been expressing this symbol through drawings and video's. The vehicle's movement and it's route, in a precarious interplay with my hand, will produce new visual compositions. I am conceptually attracted to use this technique to record important routes, traveled by numerous people, from my country to another, from my new hometown Maastricht (NL) to it's surrounding countries, etc.

The concept addresses the experience of the traveler, the perpetual migrant who passes through stages of comforting familiarity and detached anonymity. The viewer has a chance to merge into one single perspective, a perspective which is defined by the one who is experiencing. This is the world of the perpetual migrant or cultural nomad, one where the self blends into the outer sphere and yet always leaves a behind a trace.

Jeton Muja’s art practice has always been dedicated to investigation and research of different media, themes and ways of expression. Since 2004, his essential leitmotiv has been the syntagma “Investigation continues”, the slogan used in his home country for the people who disappeared during the war. He has been articulating the concept of investigation through drawings, videos, installations and performances.