Erjola Zhuka. Interview

You were born in Durres, Albania and later moved with your family to Italy. Can you share some of your memories of Durres?
I lived in Durres until I was ten years old, overlooking the sea, a memory I cherish. At that time, the rampant urbanisation that has spread over the last 25-30 years had not yet encroached on the surrounding area. The few houses were surrounded by greenery and overlooked the sea. But I also have memories of darker times. In those years, Albania was just emerging from the dictatorship of Enver Hoxha. Although I didn’t experience it directly, I felt, like everyone else, the taboos and other consequences that it brought, which manifested themselves in family and social life. During my high school years in Italy, I began to take photographs of my family and the places of my childhood, reconnecting with old friends, relatives and grandparents. It was a period of discovery and rediscovery, an exploration of the past in order to build the future.

Photography became a tool for reflection, a process that leads to a double questioning: one personal, introspective, and the other metalinguistic, reflecting on the role and potential of the photographic medium.

Even though having lived in Italy for more than two decades, your photography continues to refer to Albania. Is it a bit comparable with writers in exile who keep writing about their countries and continue to examine and try to understand them?
I have lived in Italy for almost three decades, 28 years to be precise. Yes, at the beginning there was certainly a reference to Albania in my work, but indirectly. Because it starts from a familiar landscape to arrive at more universal reflections.

The photographs capture moments of everyday life, questioning social conventions and the masks we wear. My aim is to celebrate the human potential to create new ways of being and to question the norms imposed by contemporary society. „As if you know nothing“ is a phrase that refers to a state of emptiness, of darkness, in which thought is not conditioned by any convention or glossy image. A phrase that aims to bring us back to the original, primordial state, annihilating all knowledge, all myths, with the intention of creating new ones.

How do you approach photography and how do you create your works?
I let the surrounding situations dictate my aesthetic approach, leading me towards a continuous development of my research.

What relationship do you want to create with the viewers?
I want to make art more accessible to everyone, speak directly to the viewer and hope to evoke new perceptions. My photographs often reflect everyday reality in an ironic way, inviting the viewer to confront the conditions of postmodern man, overlaid with images and messages that prevent us from decoding the world and listening to ourselves, rethinking social conventions and freeing ourselves from the restrictions imposed by contemporary society. Spontaneity is essential: I want viewers to feel free to let go, as if forgetting everything they know. This is an interpretive key to my works.

With which photographers would you like to see your work together?
I love photographers who use photography as a tool for investigation and spontaneity, without fear of exploring techniques or content. I prefer those who go beyond conventional reportage, opting for an authentic approach without artifice. I hope that exhibitions don’t limit themselves to photography, but include artists from different disciplines. I think it is anachronistic to separate photography and art as distinct entities.

Has your work yet been exhibited in Albania?
Yes, I had the opportunity to exhibit at the Marubi National Museum of Photography in Shkoder after an artistic residency at the Art House School, directed by the artist Adrian Paci. I also presented a publication in an independent space in Tirana.

I would like to ask you about your work and publication Ode to my family. How has been conceived?
„Ode to my family“ is my first book, limited to 300 copies, which summarises the research I started during my high school years between Albania and Italy, photographing my family and the places of my childhood. The book takes the form of a photographic diary in which the autobiographical dimension, the layering of memories of life and experiences of recent years, is captured in images. The photographs present a familiar landscape, documenting the daily realities of the spontaneous behaviour of the people around me.“Territories and peoples captured in a phase of transition, of hybridised identity, in which elements of Eastern Europe coexist with symbols of a dictatorial political dimension and the conspicuous symbols of economic-consumerist globalisation. A study of the individual dimension that, through the process of reconstruction and editorial selection, becomes a universal reflection.

Any plans for 2024?
Plans for 2024 definitely include moving from Italy to northern Europe. I was thinking between Amsterdam and Paris. Next month I will be in a group exhibition at the Archaeological Museum in Pietrasanta until January 2025. This is all I know for now. The rest I will find out.

Erjola Zhuka – Instagram

Erjola Zhuka was born in Durres, Albania, on 16 April 1986. She works and lives between Tuscany and Milan. The artist studied Multimedia Arts and Painting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Carrara (MS) and holds a master’s degree in Photography at the IUAV University of Venice. In July 2020, she published her first limited edition book „Ode to my family“. Selected exhibitions include: Solo exhibition, “as if you know nothing”, Lampo Gallery, Milan (December 2023 – January 2024); MIART, PROMETEO GALLERY Ida Pisani, Milan April 2023; ArteFiera Bologna, PROMETEO GALLERY Ida Pisani, Bologna 2023; UBICUA GALLERY, London, May 2023; MARUBI MUSEUM (National Museum of Photography), Shkodra, Albania; WINNER (with solo exhibition) of the Kranj Foto Fest 2021. International Festival of Contemporary Photography in Kranj, Slovenia; “Back and forth, again”, bi-personal exhibition with artist Edson Luli at the Black Box Genesis art space, Vaasa, Finland; Galerija Stolp in Maribor, Slovenia; Photo Open Up, International Festival of Contemporary Photography, Padua, 2022. etc.

Erka Shalari is an art writer and editor. Her work is committed to uncovering distinctive artistic positions in contemporary art. The work methodology is strongly influenced by psychology, epistemological works, as well as affects and rituals.