behind facades & geometric trees

PEMËT GJEOMETRIKE

Pemë të krastitura rregullisht.
Pa asnjë degë më të gjatë se të tjerat,
Me atë lartësi që ka dashur krasitësi.

Pemë pa degë të kapërthurura,
Pemë pa asnjë degë të tharë,
Pa asnjë degë të shqyer nga furtuna.

Pemë pa asnjë folé në degë,
Sikur të mbajturit e folesë së një zogu,
Të ishte më e madhja kurorëshkelje.

Pemë të krasitura në trajtë veze,
Piramide, kubi e këpurdhe…
Përse djallin e quani veten pemë?!

GEOMETRIC TREES

Properly cut trees,
no branch longer than the others,
as high as the initiator wanted.

Trees without interwoven branches,
trees without a single withered branch,
without signs left by storms.

Trees without nests in the branch,
as if a bird’s nest was
the most shameful adultery.

Egg-shaped trees,
pyramid, cube and mushroom shaped –
why the hell do you call yourselves trees?

(Anton Papleka)

Albeit their different choice of subject both series Behind Facades and Geometric Trees show a cautious approach towards the city of Tirana and its inhabitants as well as a more profound examination of the relation between the Self and the Other.
Behind Facades is not looking at the lively streets of Tirana but is facing towards the calm facades of residential buildings, which the artist is presenting not as hermetically closed surfaces but rather as walls with windows, exteriors with openings. However, the gaze into the inside remains obscured. Instead, several small details tell of the life that is hidden behind the facades. At the same time it becomes quickly apparent that Daliah’s images are taken from the inside of the buildings. Hence, not the Other but ones own viewpoint is beginning and end of her observations.
Geometric Trees refers to the poem with the same title by Albanian author Anton Papleka, which is grappling with the consequences of adaption and self-denial. This series shows geometrically trimmed box trees, which Daliah Ziper was photographing alongside the Lana River in Tirana. In the centre of her images we find however not the trees but rather their shadows, which in some of the images almost take human shapes. Thus, as in Papleka’s poem, the trees also become metaphors in Daliah’s works. However, unlike Papleka, she seems not to be indignant but rather moved by the cut plants, which calmly and almost gracefully display their defeated nature. (Text: Aviva Kaminer)

Behind Facades & Geometric Trees was realised in collaboration with Tirana Ekspres, supported by the German Embassy in Tirana and European Cultural Foundation.