Agim Zajmi, the founder of modern Albanian scenography, once said:
“Theatre is the word, it is thought — it has kept itself alive for centuries, surviving through the philosophy of the work.” This is how the painter, scenographer, and professor Agim Zajmi appeared to me in a 2009 interview. He continued: “Theatre can become beautiful even with simple things, when you love it. Theatre is my home.”
The bell of the artist’s departure rang on November 3, 2013 (ten years ago today), when he crossed beyond, leaving behind a memory that I have always found difficult to separate from the Artist, the Human Being, and the Citizen. I have written before about his close friendship with my father, Skënder Selimi — collaborators in scenography and costume design, alike yet contrasting in argument, inspiring and passionate, inquisitive and deeply committed to Albanian art. He remained a challenger until the moment he stepped onto the stage at the age of seventy to fulfill a long-held creative dream: the ballet “Scheherazade,” spectacularly revived on the stage of the National Theatre of Opera and Ballet. It was then that he received thunderous applause, feeling truly at home.
How do we build a home? How do we raise it, and how do we protect it?
I cannot ask Professor Gimi these questions now, but I believe I know the answer — he left it embedded in the foundations of modern Albanian scenography, through a contribution of more than 300 stage designs. His most fruitful collaboration was with director Pirro Mani, with whom he created over 40 productions. His scenography freed the stage from the burden of descriptive objects; it created designs that were born and died on stage; it embraced theatrical convention and built a unique scenographic language that came alive through the unity of the author, director, and actor. He believed firmly that “theatre is a collective art.”
“You must be 50% a director in order to remain 100% a scenographer — and vice versa.”
He demonstrated this belief in the production “A View from the Bridge” in 2009, when an empty stage began to “tremble” under the weight of thought, wisdom, liberation, and the creative search of a 71-year-old scenographer. Agim Zajmi built his “home” at the National Theatre of Albania in Tirana, while also contributing to the National Theatres of Prishtina (Kosovo), Skopje (North Macedonia), and Montenegro. He served as Dean and Professor at the Academy of Arts in Tirana. The majority of Albanian and international works staged at the National Theatre bear the creative imprint of the talented painter and scenographer Agim Zajmi.
He also made an invaluable contribution to costume design. As a profound connoisseur of Albanian ethnography, he brought not only environments to the stage, but also clothing and intricate details that filled the space with authenticity, rendering Albanian life with striking realism. “For Agim Zajmi, creativity is happiness,” stated director Drita Agolli. The legendary Albanian actor Naim Frashëri described him as a “Master of Theatre,” while Sandër Prosi praised his work by saying: “His scenographies are golden rings.”
Thus, I believe that the Artist kept the “Home” alive through his unique personality and multidimensional talent — qualities that allowed him to explore deeply and to guide us through the creative laboratory of the poet of the stage, unveiling, like no one else before him, the magic and secrets of scenographic art. This is why artist and professor Gazmend Leka defined him as a “milestone in Albanian scenography.” As a professor at the Academy of Arts in Tirana, for decades Agim Zajmi prepared future generations of painters with the patience and simplicity that characterized him. As a painter, he exhibited his works in France, Italy, England, Greece, Turkey, Austria, and beyond.
As a master of color in easel painting, he created numerous landscapes, compositional works, and portraits, among which stand out: “Albanian Dance,” “Fushë-Kosovë,” “The Albanian Sky Weeps,” “Mountain Fairies,” “For the War in Kosovo,” “Portrait of a Woman,” “The Kosovar Woman,” “Emigration,” and others.
As a native of Peja, Agim Zajmi treated with deep emotion the theme that was closest to his heart — Kosovo. As a scenographer, he participated in numerous international theatre festivals and was the recipient of many national awards in painting and scenography. In 1975, he was awarded the title “Merited Artist”; in 1991, he was honored as “People’s Painter”; and in 1995, he received the title of Professor. He served as Dean of the Faculty of Fine Arts and later as a professor at the Academy of Arts. He was also President of the National Association of Figurative Artists, based in Tirana.
I cannot fully encompass the entirety of his artistic life, but I know that it is and continues to be “at home” — in the memory of all those who lived in the time of Artist Agim Zajmi. Thank you, Professor Zajmi, for your contribution to scenography, costume design, and exhibitions filled with color and ideas.
Thank you for the bond you shared with my father — as friends, artists, and creators — united until the very end.
Now you are together in the heavens.
Thank you, Master, for the Art, the Citizen, the Educator — thank you for everything you gave us.
November 4, 2023, KultPlus.com
