By: Shqipe Malushi
Time: 16:00-17:00, Heroines Park across from the Newborn Monument, Prishtina
Artist: XiXi XIAO
As passers-by gathered at Heroines Park across from the Newborn Monument in Prishtina, waiting to see what would unfold, not knowing what kind of performance to expect, we were suddenly and unexpectedly surprised to see a woman rolling in pain on the ground of the park. Her movements were agonizing, as if she were experiencing childbirth pain or another intense pain caused by incredible silent suffering, both internal and external.
She dragged herself across the grass, twisting and turning, her body becoming a river of emotions flowing without direction, contracting and expanding as if in a scream that spoke to us about a wound that perhaps could be healed, despite her search to emerge from herself and from the earth itself.
The public gathered to witness this artist, XiXi Xiao, who had traveled from China and the UK to silently yet loudly perform the journey from being broken to liberation, from endless struggle to emergence, from all limitations to freedom, love, and peace.
We followed her movements, which often reflected like the wind, light and easy to shift and turn into fierce movements of a wounded woman. She picked up a drum and beat out a rhythm of anger and devastation, then invited everyone present to touch the drum with their fingers, creating a light sound that resembled the beat of a heart.
Suddenly, my tears flowed without stopping, and I remembered that women during the war in Kosovo went through the same agony between life and death, between fear and hope. Many of us had tears because she reflected our memories of pain.
As we followed XiXi Xiao, an incredible artist whose body spoke thousands of words, she wrapped herself in a red scarf, reminding us that many brides were left alone and many girls remained unmarried, waiting for their loved ones to return from the war.
XiXi danced a fearless dance, rising from pain, becoming a clown and laughing at the tragic comedy of life. She emerged as a heroine, standing in front of the monument, and included the audience in painting her body with colors, writing words of love across her skin. Then she gave everyone colors and pulled out a white veil on which everyone wrote words of love, peace, songs, happiness, togetherness, sisterhood, freedom, liberation, unity, and more. Then a long veil, painted with rainbow colors and covered with words, silently reflecting peace, love, and freedom, was carried by all those present as we walked toward the Newborn Monument, covering both XiXi and the symbol of Kosova’s freedom with the veil of love.
I noticed my heart racing from the impact of this performance—yes, it touched me deeply on many levels. At first, I thought I had been fighting fear throughout my life, while XiXi was embracing fear, riding it like a stallion. As I reflected on this during our conversation, I realized that perhaps I had been struggling between my art and my humanitarian calling and had never been able to serve my art first, but always served the people first. At that moment, I wished I could dance like XiXi and silently express my own freedom.
I would like to thank XiXi for her extraordinary performance, which left me contemplating my inner world and showed me the path to rise beyond the self into the space of love and freedom through art.
