Things can change only through strong personalities. I am not very good at supporting ignorance and mediocrity, so maybe this leads to arrogant gestures and arrogant responses. So, nobody's perfect.

I'm not sure I am a politician. I would say that I am still an artist, and I'm trying to use politics as an instrument for change.

I don't have two different personalities. I am what I am.

Clearly I am a very strong, top-of-the-line, always-rising-to-it personage.

I am not very good at sticking to outlines, and I double back all the time to revisit scenes and change things.

For 11 years, I was mayor of Tirana, our capital. We faced many challenges. Art was part of the answer, and my name, in the very beginning, was linked with two things: demolition of illegal constructions in order to get public space back, and use of colors in order to revive the hope that had been lost in my city.