Photos

When I arrived to Prishtina I quickly started to meet with those involved, in one way or another, in creating the symbols of the newborn Republic of Kosovo.

At that time I thought it would be a good idea to take portraits of these individuals while they were designing the future identity of their country but since I was all by myself I found no time to take these photos, devoted as I was to making interviews -up to 30 in 29 days-.

Sometimes, though, things happen as if they were meant to be.
One day as I walked out of the hostel I saw a young man wandering around the neighborhood.
I asked him if he was lost and needed help and offered to walk with him towards the city center.
This man was no less than an executive from a multinational computer company who instead of going on vacation goes around the world doing photo-reportage, his name: Daron Alex D’Souza.

After a few chats Daron was kind enough to help me out. We discussed the conceptual approach to the pictures and with the help of some friends of my assistant, Artan Balaj, we found a couple of portable flashes and got an amazing studio space: The National Art Gallery of Kosovo.
Luan Mulliqi, the Director of the Museum, agreed to the use one of the white empty rooms in the upper floor as photo studio. Despite all the difficulties I’m extremely happy that the portraits were taken, something that wouldn’t have happened without Daron’s help.

- Diego Hurtado de Mendoza