By: Shqipe Malushi
“Art + Healing, Mental Health & Burnout in Creative Resistance”—a day carved with courage and tenderness. “Art + Healing, Mental Health & Burnout in Creative Resistance” unfolded like a collective ritual—where poetry stood trial, silence broke into song, and truth was given breath.
The day opened with heartfelt words from Rita Glavitza of the Austrian Development Agency, who reminded us that healing is a shared responsibility, and art is its most honest is its most honest messenger.
From Serbia to Ukraine, France to Kosovo, artists, anthropologists, and activists stood shoulder to shoulder, not as experts—but as witnesses to pain, resilience, and rebirth.
Panel 1: Art as a Tool for Healing – How Can Art Heal Society?
Moderated with grace by Arber Selmani (Kosovo), this powerful conversation wove together stories of pain and resistance from:
• Ana Isakovic (Serbia), who turned trauma into testimony, and poetry into justice.
• Zana Hoxha (Kosovo), whose theater has protected women and disturbed the silence.
• Ilire Vinca (Kosovo), who crossed the boundaries of self through the roles she embodied.
• Driada Dervishi (Albania), bringing voices of the unseen to the surface.
• Janet Reineck (USA), who dances across borders, healing through rhythm and movement.
• Hanna Shestakova (Ukraine), visiting Kosovo for the first time, blending trauma and solidarity in improvisational theater.
Each one brought not only their art but their open wounds—showing how creation can stitch what war and patriarchy tear apart.
Panel 2: How Do We Heal? Mental Health & Burnout in Creative Industries
Moderated by Edita Doli (Kosovo), this panel dared to speak of the silent epidemics artists often carry alone:
• Sibel Halimi (Kosovo), activist and advocate, giving language to exhaustion.
• Dr. Mariele Leclère (France), naming stigma, urging for therapy as a tool, not a taboo.
• Maja Mitić (Serbia), director and performer, unveiling the cracks in systems that neglect emotional care.
• Blerta Zeqiri (Kosovo), filmmaker and storyteller, capturing truth behind the camera and within herself.
• Linda Mulla Gashi (Kosovo), weaving culture and compassion through every word.
Their dialogue painted burnout not as a failure, but as a wake-up call. A plea for rest, dignity, and real support.
Panel 3: Burnout of Artists and Activists
Led with insight by Adrijana Kocić (Serbia), this final panel held the heaviest stories—of carrying too much, too long, too alone:
• Sabina Akhtar (United Kingdom), a voice of reflection across borders and identities.
• Shqipe Malushi (USA/Kosovo), who shared the body’s toll after decades of service, yet still rises with poetry.
• Raimonda Sylbije (Kosovo), visual artist transforming trauma into form and color.
• Adelina Berisha (Kosovo), activist and defender of women’s rights, who reminds us of resistance rooted in love.
• Fatlinda Nitaj Rrexhaj (Kosovo), who spoke of the triple burden women carry—home, work, and community.
This was not simply a conference. It was a mirror, a balm, and a breakthrough.
Zana’s theater became a courtroom of dignity.
Ana’s poem a sword of justice.
Ilire’s characters bled into her bones.
Janet danced for children who had forgotten how.
Hanna moved trauma through bodies.
And we all remembered the weight of memory and the urgency of voice.
Panel after panel, story after story—burnout was named, not as weakness, but as consequence. Of care. Of overgiving. Of dreaming too hard without a place to rest.
We spoke of shame, and sang it away. We honored the cracked voices. We said no when the world demanded more. We said yes to healing,even if it comes slowly, even if it starts with crying in front of strangers.
Zana Hoxha, founder of Artpolis and FemArt, closed the gathering not with applause, but with a blessing— thanking every voice, every breath, every truth spoken. She reminded us: this is the beginning of a deeper conversation, not its end.
And so, we left not broken, but held. Not empty, but awakened. A garden of hope was planted in us— rooted in resistance, watered by tears, and ready to bloom.
