"If you learn to knit, your rifle won't shoot at war"

"If you learn to knit, your rifle won't shoot at war"

Zgjim Zyba's exhibition touches on the concepts of memory and manhood in war.

byValmira Rashiti|23.06.2026

Zyba uses blankets as a symbol of a not-so-distant traumatic past.

"Maybe it can happen again," he recalled the words of one family that had donated 11 blankets, almost unused since the war. "They used to say: 'You never know.'"

For contrast, the AK-47 rifle is placed facing the knitting needles, a reference to the way war is remembered.

Photos: Hajde Foundation (left), Esko Duraki (right)

Zyba attempts to shift attention from heroic narratives of war toward the invisible emotional and physical work of women in the post-war period.

Knitting, for Zyba, is not simply about aesthetics, but also about resistance.

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Valmira Rashiti

Valmira Rashiti has a bachelor’s degree in Law and Cultural Anthropology from the University of Prishtina. She is a former K2.0 editor.

DISCLAIMERThe views of the writer do not necessarily reflect the views of Kosovo 2.0.