INTERVIEW WITH JAKUP FERRI
NB: Your video is named after the Croatian artist, Mladen Stilinović's 1992 embroidery which reads: "An artist who cannot speak English is no artist." How did you encounter Stilinović? And in what ways did he influence your early work?
JF: Immediately after the war (the Yugoslavian War), there was a big revolt in the academy because there was only one professor talking about conceptual art – he told us about Western art and other artists such as Mladen. At the academy, more professors were teaching about the traditional arts than artists like Mladen. He became very popular with some of the students. We were excited about Western art and Mladen, who was Croatian and closer to our own culture. But at this time, it was difficult to get information on him because our access to the Internet was limited and we didn't have too many books.
And at that time, I didn’t speak English very well. There was a curator coming from Germany and to get his attention we used anything we could, including our positional experience. I made four or five videos for the curator and they were immediately successful. Eventually these videos led me to travel across Europe to be part of biennales and other international exhibitions.
NB: Have you met Mladen Stilinović?
JF: Yes, a few times. The first time I met him I asked him if he was happy that I had used him as an inspiration for my video work. He said that he was fine with that and he told me about a few other Balkan artists who were similarly inspired by his work.
NB: A number of curators have defined you as a peripheral artist, especially in regards to your early work. Can you speak a little bit about this title? And your transition from being a peripheral artist to an international artist?
JF: I never saw myself as a peripheral artist or outsider. But curators liked it. I was always trying to learn about art and be spontaneous in making my work. In my early years, I heard video art was cool so I started making videos at home, in my bedroom, before even watching video art. They were my "test videos" that I made in my bedroom/laboratory. Then I would ask people if they thought this was video art. I showed my work, “Three Virgins,” to one of the first curators I met. The video had an amateur aesthetic like my other works but I wanted to see if I could make it better so I asked the curator if I could record the video again. Of course, the curator chose the first version and I realized that people preferred amateur videos over polished aesthetics.
I began traveling a lot because of my video art. I was part of biennales and also made a lot of connections with international curators who were interested in the political aspects of my work. These opportunities and connections were really good from my position. Then after moving to Amsterdam I became interested in outsider art – like Henry Darger and Martín Ramirez – and there were not so many biennales anymore. I’ve begun working with textiles, large mosaics and drawings. Right now I'm working on hand-woven carpets and textile-based mosaics with ladies in Albania and Kosovo using different techniques such as cross-stitching.
NB: "Help Me, Save Me" like your work, "An Artist Who Cannot Speak English is No Artist," is filmed in your bedroom. Why did you make the decision to use this setting?
JF: Actually, most videos were filmed in my bedroom – not that I made this decision consciously. In my room, I was less shy in front of the camera than I would have been outside. I made so many videos in my bedroom but then I suddenly lost interest in filming, filming, filming. I still have hours of footage that could be dozens of other videos. Now I prefer working with drawing, painting, and tapestry – all these mediums came gradually to me. I make some videos in between.
