First question: What do you want to express with your pictures?

Aida Kozar: I am a theatre actress. Photography – as part of my work on the stage is important for me from several perspectives.

One perspective is that photography gives my artistic expression a wider and deeper meaning. A photo does not show only an actor on the stage. It shows the stage as well, situations, feelings, stage set design, and costumes. Another perspective includes the previous one : a photo is catching the ephemera of theatre – art which is lasting only while theatre piece is lasting. If you had luck being a part of good performance your art will last several hours or maybe several days more in the thoughts of your audience. In a certain way it is nice feeling being aware of the flow of the moment, ephemera of theatre was helping me to live mindfully and more intensely. But still – I love to have memories of those moments on stage. And I am happy to have them.

At the same time, I was strongly under influence of David Bowie, his audio and visual expression. One Saturday in 1983.

When I was 11 years old and mad about Bowie, I bought his album „Let’s dance“ on the tape, just before I was going to have lessons in religious school. I came too early to the mosque, I was there alone and I couldn’t wait to hear his album, so I decided to hear it from the mosque tape-player.

I put the tape inside, but I couldn’t hear anything, although the tape-player was working. I was changing sides, going forwards and backwards, I was letting it play for a long time, and in one moment I realized that the player was connected to loudspeakers outside. Bowie was singing all the time from minarets, „Let’s dance“ and “ Modern love“ and I was amazed when I realized, happy because of crazy adventure.

I escaped immediately before someone was catching me, of course. Last year, when I was visiting my parents, I was passing beside that mosque, and I saw the old loudspeakers in the graveyard.

I asked people from mosque if I could take them, they agreed, and I brought them with me to Germany. I keep them cared and I wanted to put them into my artistic expression. Red shoes are a tribute to „Let’s dance“ and I wear traditional trousers from my hometown, trousers of my grandmother, the same one I mostly borrowed from her when I was attending religious school – mejtep.

In that photo, beside reflection of the sky on the table, there is one set of Bowie’s magazine and a photo of him from his „Serious Moonlight“ tour. On this sheet I put a peach – exactly on the place where my heart is under the table.

In Novi Pazar, my hometown, peach is considered as a naughty fruit, because you cannot bite on it without a risk to become sticky from its juice. Because of all those things – it’s absolutely my favourite photo. It is telling me that my roots don’t have necessary to keep me on the ground. I fly thanks to them.