By Milena Selimi
“Theatre is the word, it is thought; it has kept it alive for centuries, where theatre has survived through the philosophy of the work,” said Painter, Stage Designer, and Professor Agim Zajmi in a 2009 interview. And further: “Theatre, even with simple things, becomes beautiful when you love it. Theatre is my home.”
The bell of his passing rang on November 3rd, 2013 — ten years ago today — when he left us, carrying with him a memory I cannot separate from the Artist, the Man, the Citizen.
A close friend of my father, Skënder Selimi, Zajmi was a collaborator in stage and costume design, alike and opposite in argument, passionate and inspiring. At seventy, he stepped onto the stage to fulfill a lifelong dream with the ballet “Scheherazade”, in a spectacular revival at the National Theatre of Opera and Ballet. The applause that night made them feel at home.
How do we build, raise, and protect a home? I cannot ask Professor Gimi, but I know the answer… he left it in the foundations of modern Albanian scenography, with over 300 stage designs. His most fruitful partnership was with director Pirro Mani, producing more than 40 plays — works that freed the stage from overloaded sets, that embraced convention, and that lived and died in performance.
For him, “theatre is a collective art. You must be 50% director to remain 100% stage designer, and vice versa.” He proved this again in 2009, with “A View from the Bridge”, when the empty stage began to tremble under the weight of thought, wisdom, and the searching spirit of a 71-year-old stage designer.
Agim Zajmi built his artistic “home” on the stage of the National Theatre of Albania, while also shaping theatres in Prishtina, Skopje, and Montenegro. Dean and professor at the Academy of Arts in Tirana, he influenced generations of artists and created over 300 stage and costume designs that defined modern Albanian scenography.
Honored as “People’s Painter” and “Merited Artist,” Zajmi was remembered by peers as a “Master of Theatre” and “a milestone in Albanian scenography.” Beyond the stage, he was a painter of landscapes, portraits, and compositions, always carrying with him the spirit of Kosovo, his birthplace.
His legacy lives on — still “at home” in the memory of Albanian art and theatre.
Thank you, Professor Zajmi, for your contribution to scenography, costume design, and exhibitions full of color and ideas. Thank you for being alongside my father as friends, artists, and creators, never parting until the end.
Now you are together in the heavens!
Thank you, Master, for the Art, the Citizenship, the Teaching — thank you for everything you gave us!
(1936 – November 3, 2013)
www.pena.al, 2023-11-04
