The exhibition displays selected pictures from Albania, Kosovo and the Balkans in the 19th and 20th centuries part of the Marubi collection
TIRANA, Feb. 14 – Pictures from the golden age of Albanian photography, part of the Marubi dynasty, are being shown at the National Arts Gallery in Kosovo as part of celebrations commemorating Kosovo’s sixth anniversary of independence. Previously undisplayed pictures from the 19th and 20 century Marubi collection by photographers Pietro Marubit, Kel Marubi, Geg롍arubi, Mati Kodheli Marubi, Kel Kodheli Marubi, Kol Idromeno, Shan Pici, Ded롊akova, Pjet철Raboshta, Angjelin N쯳hati will be displayed at the National Arts Gallery in Prishtina for one month from February 14 to March 14.
The exhibition curated by the director of the Marubi Fototeka Lu諡n Bedeni and the artist Zef Paci displays selected pictures from Albania, Kosovo and the Balkans in the 19th and 20th centuries.
“The exhibition ‘Marubi: The moving target of an archive’ has been placed in the official programme of the sixth anniversary of the Republic of Kosovo and this major event will open this program. The exhibition and the cooperation between the Kosovo National Gallery and the Marubi Fototeka marks the first cooperation in the frame of the joint cultural calendar of events between Albania and Kosovo,” said Erzen Shkololli, the director of the Kosovo Arts Gallery.
The Marubi archives are considered as one of the largest photo libraries in the Balkans, with a collection of more than 100,000 photographic negatives dating back to 1858.
The European Parliament in Brussels became the first host of an exhibition featuring the golden age of Albanian photography from the rich 19th and 20th century of the Marubi collection.
Reflecting our traditions, reflecting ourselves” which displayed in Brussels for three days from January 20 to 22 is an itinerant exhibition organized within the EU-funded project “Marubi: a cooperative model for the promotion of tourism between Shkodra and Ulcinj” in the framework of the IPA Cross-Border Programme Albania-Montenegro 2007-2013.
The travelling exhibition is aimed at promoting the Marubi patrimony and the historical, social and cultural values of Albania and Montenegro. The exhibition will tour different countries such as Italy, Hungary, Serbia, France, Poland and Turkey.
Albanian photography started with Pietro Marubi, an Italian emigrant fleeing political repression from his country. He opened Albania’s first photography studio in 1858. Three generations of Marubis will follow in his footsteps. For about a century, the Marubi family have amassed more than 120,000 negatives. The selection of pictures reveals the political, social, cultural and religious diversity of the country.
From the fall of the Ottoman Empire to the establishment of Enver Hoxha’s communist regime in 1946, in the wake of the Second World War, photography flourished in Albania. “Albania possesses a photographic legacy which, though unique among the Balkans, has gone unnoticed both inside and outside its border,” researchers say.
