top of page

THE BALLAD OF KASTRIOT REXHEPI, 2001

Kelly’s interest in the acquisition of language continues in The Ballad of Kastriot Rexhepi, where she considers its impact on assumptions about national or ethnic difference. The artist’s prose is based on a report in the Los Angeles Times about the separation of an infant from his Kosovo-Albanian family during the Balkan war in the 1990s. Too young for words to reveal his identity, the Serbian army found and renamed him; under NATO’s occupation he was renamed again; finally he was reunited with his family and his patronym. Four stanzas run continuously around the gallery walls––over 200 feet, the rhythmic waves of the accumulated lint echoing the tempo of the soprano, who sings Michael Nyman's original score for the exhibition at the opening events

48_MaryKelly_The_Ballad_of_Kastriot_Rexh

The Ballad of Kastriot Rexhepi, 2001
Installation View, Santa Monica Museum of Art
Compressed lint
49 framed panels, 17 x 48 x 2 ins. each, overall length, 206 ft.

49_MaryKelly_The_Ballad_of_Kastriot_Rexh

Detail
Compressed lint
2 of 49 framed panels, 17 x 48 x 2 ins. each

Ballad of K Detail.jpg

Detail
Compressed lint
1 of 49 framed panels, 17 x 48 x 2 ins. overall length, 206 ft.

Ballad Detail 52.jpg

Detail
Compressed lint
1 of 49 framed panels, 17 x 48 x 2 ins. overall length, 206 ft.

53_MaryKelly_The_Ballad_of_Kastriot_Rexhepi_Michael_Nyman_Quartet_Orig.Scoreby_Michael_Nym

The Ballad of Kastriot Rexhepi, 2001
Original score for the exhibition by Michael Nyman
Sarah Leonard, soprano and the Michael Nyman Quartet
Still, video documentation of live performance, Santa Monica Museum of Art

bottom of page