Art Colony Galichnik 2005

a picture tour

sharing experience of landscape, people, places

and culture

 

 

 

 

 

A view of the village of Galichnik, once a thriving sheep farming and trading centre. Now the are many sheep on the pastures around Galichnik brought here for the summer grazing. A superb cheese and yogourt is produced from the sheep.
 

 

Ana Frangovska and her father the painter Nove Frangovski having what was to be a quiet moment from organising the artists until the phone rang.

 
 

 

We stayed in a hotel which was set above the village. Here some of the artists around the communal breafast table. Nove headed the table and if you look closely a bottle of racia stands central for everyone to have a tot to start the day.
 

 

Here is LOC from the NEXO organisation based in Toledo Spain. It's only the second day and already he is well on the way with his work.
 

 

Nechama Levendel and Nadav Bloch busy working oblivious of my attempts to capture them on camera.
 

 

 
 

 

A view across the valley to the mountains of Albania.

 
 

 

A closer look at the houses of Galichnik.

 
 

 

Ana called away again to sort something out.

 
 

 

Part of the work I was making at Galichnik.

 
 

 

LOC getting towards the finishing stages of his work.

 
 

 

An important part of the Art Colnony is to let the visiting artists experience the culture of the region. Here people are lighting candles at the celebration of St Petka. The church is in a remote spot high in the mountain above Galichnik.

 
 

 

The St Petka celebrations are underway with a massive bonfire in a clearing nect to St Petka's church. It seemed as though everyone from the village had come to join the celebrations. We were passed on our way along the mountain path, by a group of young horsemen galloping to the celebrations. Fish caught in the lake were cooked on the fire. Wine was drunk, and songs were sung. It was a magical evening.

 
 

 

This gentleman is the chef. The fish were delicious.

 
 

 

 

 

 

Walking to the village in the evening. Wolves were howling in the mountains, and music with fantastic drumming was heard coming from a party in the village further down the mountain.

 
 

 

A glass of beer in the one and only local hostelry.
 

 

One of the ancient and important churches, at one time a mosque and now a church. The see-saw between religious domination in the area seemed to depend on who was invading and conquering the region.

 
 

 

 
 

 

The town of Okrid with its massive lake. Good bathing and very good fish are to be had from the lake.

 
 

 

A Roman ampitheatre near Okrid.
 

 

 
 

 

 
 
 

 

After making work, and taking in the culture of Galichnik, the visit to the lake Okrid, meeting people and being greeted with warmth and generousity I though nothing could get better. But it did. Here we are enjoying the superb hospitality of Nove and his wife in his studio at Skopje. If nothing else this was worth making the visit to Macedonia. Yes the art is important, but when it has a peripheral function to cross cultural divides, and to make contact with people you might never have met then it functions above itself.

 
 

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On Landing at Skopje

I was excited about coming to Macedonia. I had a photo of Marco who was to meet me at Skopje Airport. Soon through customs, and clutching my piece of paper, and looking around for likely contacts I caught a glimpse of someone waving. I checked with the photo and it wasn't quite a good likeness, so, thinking it had something do do with the copying process I made contact with the well built citizen of Macedonia. "Are you Marco?" I asked. "No, I am Janco", "I will take you to Galichnik". We soon got talking as we drove through the magnificent Macedonian countryside. Janco was the partner of Ana Frangovska who organised the event. That's the connection.

Work produced in the Art Colony Galichnic

This first piece produced in the Art Colony Galichnic in August 2005 was an immediate response to the new environment that I found myself in. As an ephemeral installation it will need to be remade in any other space. Nature and religious ritual seemed to be integrated, together with the WORD and symbol, synonymous with religious beliefs in the Orthodox churches. This work was a composition based upon the sensual immediacy of a first impression. A wall hanging icon and a structure from natural wood gathered from the landscape was an interpretation of a precious symbolic image. I used letters from the Macedonian alphabet mixed with Hebrew and English letters contained in their own individual environments of air filled plastic bags. I hope that the synergy between the elements convey a feeling of respect from a stranger who was so warmly welcomed into Macedonian culture. This work was a development from Homage to Nove's Place in that I wanted to express an idea of mutuality picking qualities of experience from Wales where I come from and Macedonia where I was on a Residency. It seemed that people embraced a lot and kissed a lot as part of their natural greeting. I combined this idea with the basics of a rural life. The language, the icon and the bread of life, depicted as a staff arising from a heap of flour.The work is meant to be interactive in that the container held small torn pieces of paper on which kisses where imprinted and thrown into the arena much as corn is sown in a field. The sentiment is that goodwill between peoples of different cultures can be sown by positive action in a celebration of our differences.

I, and everyone else there absorbed the warm Galichnik welcome. Sharing with foreign friends - we were literally embraced by Ana and Nove. Then visibly moved we sought to express the beauty of the unspoken word.

It was the synthesis of mood and shared precious space that transformed the commonplace and gave a key. A key to let go, a key to unlock the synergy of time and place, and feel the energy of Colony Galichnik.

John Brown August 2005
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