From bras to bags – Kosovo artist makes bold statement for breast cancer awareness

By Fatos Bytyci

PRISTINA (Reuters) – On a sunny October day in Pristina, women line up at a stall to donate bras to be turned into bags sold to raise money for those with breast cancer, as part of a project launched by artist Ermira Murati to raise awareness among Kosovo women.

For the fourth straight year in October – breast cancer awareness month worldwide – Murati is collecting bras as part of a campaign called “Shliroj Cicat” (Free the boobs), which for its logo including a cartoon-like drawing of a breast has led to criticism in Kosovo’s patriarchal society.

Despite the criticism from some in 90%-Muslim Kosovo, Shkurte Kafexholli was happy to donate a bra.

“We are here to support ‘Shliroj Cicat’,” she said.

The bags made of bras in all sizes and colours are then showcased on social media. With the money raised from selling them Murati buys mastectomy bras, which resemble regular bras with pockets inside to hold breast prostheses in place, or other supplements that women may need.

“You can wear your bra as a bag,” Murati said. “This means you can use them in another way and an even more meaningful one.”

According to Kosovo health ministry figures, in 2022 some 547 new cases of breast cancer were recorded in Kosovo.

Murati is known in Kosovo for her provocative work. Her two previous projects – one showing two men in Albanian national clothes kissing each other on the mouth and another one showing a Kosovo and a Serbian leader kissing on the mouth have also drawn criticism.

“What I am doing is very provocative,” she says as she makes bags in a basement studio just a few metres from the main mosque in Pristina. It does not create a lot of comfort for many people.

(Reporting by Fatos Bytyci; Editing by Ivana Sekularac and Hugh Lawson)