Prizren, Kosovo * February 2016 * 35mm
I met Ervina one chilly night over a dinner of hummus and falafel in a dimly light cafe. She's a writer and studies surrealism and she published her first book when she was 16 years old. And she wears glasses when she reads that make her eyes magnify so she's actually a bookish cartoon character which makes her even more ethereal. Ervina was insistent that I visit the charming city of Prizren in Kosovo, and I told her I would go if she came too. A few weeks later we took a bus 2 hours south of Pristina. Her friend drove us into the mountains that overlooked the cobblestoned city oozing with Ottoman history. We found an abandoned Serbian village and followed no particular road.
Ervina has this way about her that is infectiously inspiring. I brought a string of lights, a handmade mirror from Istanbul and a camera. It all came together rather effortlessly while we chased twilight. Needless to say, I was channeling my best Frida Kahlo. At the time, I had been watching some pretty dark cinema from Eastern Europe, namely the 1970s Czechoslovakian film Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, which undoubtedly influenced these shots. "She [most definitely] prances through the sky."
To read Ervina's work, see her website.