Saranda Kalaveshi lived through a war in her native Kosovo that threatened to destroy her career as an artist.
“The Kosovo War destroyed everything and led the country to a weak economy,” she said. “It also affected the way I was educated and the way I was raised.”
The Kosovo War began in 1998, when Kalaveshi was 9. It was an ethnic conflict between Serbians and Albanians, both of whom lived in Kosovo but had different cultural and religious views.
A year later, NATO bombed the Yugoslav troops occupying Kosovo, just as Kalaveshi debuted her first painting exhibition when she was 10 years old.
“Painting is something that has always been with me,” she said. “My mom said that when I was 3, I raised my hand and drew in the air while I was sleeping.”
The Kosovo War ended in June 1999, but political unrest plagued the region until the country declared its independence from Serbia in 2008.
All the while Kalaveshi continued to paint as her family shielded her from the political conflict.
“As a child, I lived in my bubble world where nothing wrong happened,” she said. “I didn’t keep in contact with the world too much and I thought that political issues were going well, although I knew that we were in really bad conditions.”
In 2000, when she was 11 years old, Kalaveshi was awarded the first and third local and national awards, respectively, in the United Education, Science and Culture Trade Union competitions in Kosovo for her paintings. She was the youngest artist ever to received these awards.
“I was very young and didn’t know the importance of these awards,” she said. “I didn’t realize that I was among the greatest artists of my country.”
Kalaveshi said the chaotic life she led as a child made it more difficult to pursue art.
“During eight years, Kosovo was under either NATO or UN control,” she said. “We didn’t have sovereignty and everything was a mess.”
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In order to achieve her bigger goals, Kalaveshi said she quit her studies in Kosovo and came to the U.S. to continue her education.
“I quit everything because coming to the U.S. had always been my dream,” she said. “I know that in the U.S. I can do something more because here people do appreciate art, in contrast to Kosovo.”
Although she wants to keep singing and painting, Kalaveshi now studies theater with a concentration in acting. She said she hopes to become an actress.
“My main goal is becoming an actress, but I don’t want to stop painting,” she said. “Also, in the future I see myself somehow related to music by either singing or playing piano.”
Kalaveshi is rehearsing for her first play, “Electricidad,” written by Luis Alfaro. “Electricidad” is a transformation of Sophocles’ Elektra into a modern story that takes place in an abandoned barrio in Los Angeles. The play opens Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in Theatre X at UNM. Kalaveshi said she’s proud of the first play she is in.
“‘Electricidad’ is such a great play because it has a perfect balance between intensity and fun,” she said. “That is why I am very proud of participating in this, my first play in the U.S.”
