Biography of Asllan Krasniqi
Asllan Krasniqi, founder of the Kosovaexodus’99 Foundation, is a photographer by profession. He was born on October 10, 1945 in Tugjec, Kosova and lives in Brussels, Belgium.
He launched his career as a photographer in 1963, photographing the first Kosovar refugees who fled the country during the forced relocation to Turkey, known as “The Rankovic Time ». At that time, on the way to Turkey, Kosova Albanian refugees were temporarily sheltered in Macedonia, before continuing the long journey, and Krasniqi at the beginning of his career used his camera to illustrate the massive displacement of Albanians from their lands.
In 1966 he completed a photography course during his military service in Ajdovç., Slovenia. In 1967 he emigrated to Belgium, where he continued his activity with the first Albanian emigration.
In 1969, he completed a course in Photographic Art in Paris, to continue his activity as a freelance photographer, visiting many countries of the world with the camera at his hand.
He went to Turkey, where he photographed mainly the premises of Albanian refugees already settled in Istanbul, Bursa, Inegöl, etc.… Then, in 1979, 1985 and 1992, he made a series of photographs in the USA (New York, Washington – White House – Los Angeles, Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Universal Studio, World Disneyland, etc., where he has always aimed to address documentary topics, especially historical, artistic and cultural events.
Later, he photographed in Paris, Cannes, Monaco, London, Vienna, Barcelona, Bucharest, Budapest, Warsaw, Venice, Vatican, etc.
For years, as an independent photojournalist, he followed and is closely following today as well all activities and events related to Kosovo and other Albanians.
« Every time I heard the name Kosova, I tried to be there », Krasniqi explains about his images taken at NATO and the European Parliament in Brussels, Luxembourg, Paris, Bonn, Rambouillet, The Hague… to illustrate with various events such as demonstrations, manifestations, hunger strikes … etc.
During the events of the ’90s and especially during the 1998-1999 war in Kosova, he has focused all related events on the objective of his camera by photographing also many high-ranking European and international personalities who have contributed to the independence of Kosova, such as William Walker, Bill Clinton, Kofi Annan, Javiar Solana, Jamie Shea, Madeline Albright, Tony Blair, Bernard Kouchner, etc.
Krasniqi’s constant concern has been, and is still, the photographic reflection of every trace of what happened to his people. He is probably the only Albanian photojournalist from the Diaspora, to be present at the recent tragic events of the Albanian people of Kosova, who has illustrated through images the suffering and pain of those whom the Serbian regime had expelled from their lands.
« EXODUS’99 » is one of the historical periods of the Kosova Albanian people, which Asllan Krasniqi illustrates with over 15000 images. these images represent a special place and importance in his rich archive of his career.
The first photos of Kosova war refugees were taken in Belgium (Brussels and Morlawelz) in April 1999, who from camps of Macedonia and Albania were temporarily hosted by the Belgian state.
Through the lens of his camera, during the period May – June 1999, he continued photographing at the refugee camps in Turkey (Istanbul and Kirklareli). He then continued with photographs at the deportation camps in Albania (Kukës, Tirana, Kavaja), and in Macedonia (Blace, Stankovec, Çegran), and then continued in Kosova with photographs of their return to the homeland after the end of war on 12 June.
With the end of the war, Krasniqi’s images illustrate also the destruction done of Albanian properties by Serbia forces throughout Kosova.
Later, in the free Kosova, his photographs include other events, such as the funeral ceremony of President Ibrahim Rugova, up to the Independence Day, 17 February 2008, a day which Asllan Krasniqi, like other Kosovar Albanians, experienced it with great emotion, by making hundreds of photographs which will remain eternal in the history of the Albanian people and its archive of over 1 million images.
Within this rich archive of Krasniqi, the 100th anniversary of the independence of Albania organized in Vlora, also has an important place.
So far, Asllani has managed to organize over 50 personal exhibitions in different cities of Belgium, Kosova, Albania and France, with various themes from different periods of his career, illustrating important historical events related to Albanians, from 1963 until today.
« Exodus ’99 », « Lands of Eagles », « Albanian Lands without Borders », « Pigeon of Peace », « Graffiti of Freedom », are some of his exhibitions of images taken by him.
Asllan Krasniqi is a member of the World Press Organization, the League of Human Rights in Belgium, Reporters Without Borders in France, and the US-based Albanian-American Academy of Sciences and Arts. He has also been a member of the Association of Journalists in Albania, the Association of Photographers « Gjon Mili » in Albania and the European Academy of Arts in Belgium.
(Contact with Asllan Krasniqi:
Tel 1: +32 475 41 75 75 (whatsapp / viber)
Tel 2: +383 49 860 108 (whatsapp / viber)
E-mail: asllan.krasniqi@gmail.com