BEING PLAYFUL

Strategies to survive in contemporary landscapes

THE MOVING SERIES

are a series of photographic self-portraits in movement capturing performative actions and interventions in public and private space. Shelbatra Jashari started the project out of the necessity of documenting her own development as an artist, dancer and performer. The photographs thus became the baseline of her methodology in movement studies. Contributions have been made by Jetmir Idrizi, Rina Meta, Ely Dagher, Tano Shinichi, Nicolas Matzner Weisner, Valentina Matzner, Astrit Ismaili, Max Pinckers, Charlotte Van Buylaere, Rrita Jashari.

Headbanging Series

Flying Series

Hanging Series

Crawling Series

Jet Set Series

Blowing Series

Sleeping & Death Series

Heroes Series

Blowing Series

BURKA EXQUISE

Burka exquise constructs different customized Burka's [ burqa( Urdu: بُرقع†) is an enveloping outer garment worn by women in some Islamic traditions to cover their bodies when in public ]. The dress-character combination form a performance and deal in a non-conformist way with the questioning of cloth and the restriction of the body within political/religious symbolism. Until now, 3 performances have been constructed ( Burgeisha, Writing Piece, Barburka).

Burgeisha, 2012

Performed at FoAM, may 2012


Burgeisha provides an exchange-performance, an intimate connection between performer and audience, giver and receiver.

Writing Piece, 2013

Perfomed at:


Seated on a chair, a woman offers her body to passersby as a canvas and projection piece.Her legs are naked, her head and torso fully veiled with a burqa.


barburka, 2013

Barburka is a bar, a space for illegality and illegal transactions. Uncurated, unofficial and illegal burka pavillion serving champagne to passersby on the trajectory between the Arsenale and the Giardini at the Venice Biennale 2013 during the openingsweek.


Performed at:

  • Venice Biennial may 2013
  • Brulesk december 2013
  • Mikser Belgrade june 2014

TRAINING/ENTRAINEMENT

Training/Entrainement is a testimony of a martial arts training from the perspective of female fighters. Its a traditional form originating from Burma and Thailand, hugely popular in Europe for its efficiency and the complete training that it encompasses. Emmersed within the professional Muay thai community in Brussels, Shelbatra started observing and documenting the life of certain female/male fighters. A martial art mainly performed by male members of her family and within the kosovar-albanian young men's community in diaspora, she took the trainings to a different level, revealing the art in the martial.

A physical endurance performance, this piece demonstrates the “Wai khru ram muay ”, the traditional greeting of the masters in traditional Muay thai boxing. Traditionally, women were not allowed in the Muay thai/Thaiboksing fighting rings until late in the 20th century due to the belief they brought bad luck in the ring.

PAO-TIME

PAO time is performance demonstrating the close relationship between master and disciple in Muay Thai - traditional thaiboksing training. The tension built up between trainer and trainee consists in a dependent relationship where one keeps the other in balance while exhausting the vital force in order to strengthen the habits of the fighter.

BRULESK

Brulesk Soiree is an urban cabaret bringing performances and contemporary dance within a specific narrative context. The project centers around eroticism and desire.

Macho Dancing

The Ring

Dolls

Brulesk Dissidency.0

HELLO SHELLY

Hello Shelly is a burlesque character, designed by Shelbatra Jashari and Adisak Jirisakassem. Hello Shelly is a series of narratives, comics, performances, songs creating an iconic view on femininity and sexuality.

Untitled compositions

In 'Being Playful: strategies to survive in contemporary landscapes', she investigates the relation between movement, the human body and the way these elements interact with virtual and architectural landscapes and soundscapes.