The geometry of resistance
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This image represents the most honorable and refined of my many stylized interpretations of the emblematic double headed eagle of the Albanian flag. Every element in the composition, from the eagle itself to the concentric lens flares, was constructed using original vectors drawn in Micrografx Designer. These shapes were then beveled and pixel-edited in Photoshop, not just for polish, but as a gesture of genuine reverence—an act of sealing the image’s artistic and symbolic value. This was back in 1998.
The circular lens flares are not decorative afterthoughts; they are part of a geometric composition and armature I developed for a series of complex portraits. The eagle’s outline, vector-based, was imported into Photoshop and hand-brushed pixel by pixel—a deliberate choice to infuse the digital with the personal, by effort, like a continuation of the sacrifice this flag has always demanded. This wasn’t just graphic design. It was a ritual, as drawing this shape always has been for me since my early childhood.
Before creating this image in the 1990s, I scoured every clip art CD and early internet archive I could find. What I discovered was disheartening: poorly vectorized flags, asymmetrical designs, and kitschy reproductions. No geometric interpretations. No stylized tributes. Just visual neglect. Unfortunately, I see that the situation is pretty much the same. Even today, most “Albanian art” using this symbol is superficial—unoriginal kitschy decals with zero creative imagination.
This image was my answer to that void. To ensure its legacy, together with this image, I’m publishing the original vector, in one rectangular and one circular version, and other derived works, in a special subgallery under SDL VIEW, named Albanian Eagle.
Since I’ve seen the rectangular version in a few online publications, it’s important to emphasize that I am the author of this geometric design of the double headed eagle used in this image.
I’ll be writing more about this in SDL InnerSpace, but for now, this image stands as a testament—not just to design, but to memory, resistance, and the sacred geometry of identity.
