Albanian graphic novel exhibition in southern Serbia

The exhibition opened days after the police banned the Miredita Dobar Dan Festival in Belgrade which was supposed to bring together artists from Serbia and Kosovo. That festival is an annual event alternating between Belgrade and Pristina organized in an effort at reconciliation between Serbs and Albanians.

The exhibition of Albanian graphic novels is the first of its kind, JUGpress said and quoted exhibition organizer Tirana University Professor Shpen Bengu who said comic strip authors were condemned and even imprisoned during the Communist regime in Albania.

The exhibition includes the works of 90 authors. Bengu said he organized them into two groups. “One group are authors whose work was done before 1990 and the second covers the period since then. Under the Enver Hoxha regime, the period prior to 1990, some authors were sentenced to long prison terms, up to 20 years, and some were even shot,” he said.