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Shifting Borders - solo exhibition at the Alberto Peola Gallery in Turin

‘Shifting borders’ addresses issues of migration, diaspora, gender and cultural and national identity through a photo essay and album exploring the Albanian diaspora in Kosova, Albania, London and Leicester. Since its initiation in 2006 with the help of an Arts and Humanities Research Council award the work has grown as an organic process. I took 2600 photographs, visiting and revisiting Prishtina and Tirana to collect material and interview subjects. The concept of the show was rigorously defined and elaborated in the studio from sketches, following which I reshot some of the images until satisfied with the balance and structure of the work as a whole.

I belong both to the Albanian diaspora and the UK, having been born in former Yugoslavia with a Kosovan father and British mother. The work of contemporary artists such as Phil Collins and Adrian Paci may engage with similar issues to mine, but my purely photographic inspiration is a product of trans-cultural heritage and close engagement with the individuals and communities I represent.

In 2008 my solo exhibition at the Alberto Peola Gallery in Turin was accompanied by a book high-lighting my work. The Turin exhibition was reviewed favourably by two Italian newspapers and appeared in many other newspapers and magazines. I reprinted 8 photographs from that work on a grand scale, and these have since been included in themed group shows around the world (in Holland, China, the UK and Taiwan - see portfolio for details). The work has featured in group shows and prestigious photography festivals beside such distinguished photographers as Don McCullin, Nan Goldin and Man Ray.

‘Shifting borders’ throws a new light on the diaspora and is therefore often featured in other shows and books with an Eastern European perspective, e.g. Contemporary Art in Eastern Europe.