"I knew about most of the Mural Fest artworks before coming to Ferizaj, so I wasn't that interested in painting another character/figure. Seeing the murals from previous years in person, particularly the ones in the center of the town, pushed me to go in a different direction esthetically and in terms of narrative.
I believe it's easy to be "seduced" by some darker themes, and visually it can be much more fun to paint something moody and dramatic. Still, the wall in the center of the town needed to go against that ( and I needed to go a bit against myself) and create a contrast to the war-themed artworks.
My idea was to paint something that at first looked more like decorative art, but I also needed to put some storytelling or a metaphor behind the work:
The Balkans have traditionally been an area of turmoil and political instability, thus the name "Powder keg."
Religion, particularly the divide between Eastern Orthodoxy, Islam, and Catholicism, has played a significant role in that instability. This tendency of individuals to associate themselves strongly with a particular group or tribe based on shared religious or ideological beliefs makes them view opposing ideologies as a threat. That leads to hostility, the rejection of alternative viewpoints, and a lack of constructive dialogue.
By painting a still life in falling motion as a continuous pattern, with slight differences in details, I wanted to address both the beauty and instability and convey the idea of being more similar than different.
This idea is a good starting point for a more utopian place which was the theme of this year's edition." shared the artist on his socials