Under the care of the First Lady of Albania, Mrs. Odeta Nishani, Dream City Fest and EnriMato, the second edition of Tirana International Photo Fest (TIPHF) opened at Youth Center in Tirana on April 18. Photography gives a voice for those who would not otherwise have one. As a reaction, photography stimulates the public opinion,” according to Enri Mato, curator and organizer of the only Photography Festival in Albania.
The second edition of TIPHF, which is part of European Photography Festival network, brought together 13 photographers from all over the world. The festival was first promoted in November 2014 at the EU- Info Center, in Tirana and in April 2015 the festival took place at a cultural center in Paris where 13 works of photographers from all over the world were exhibited. Unfortunately speed, freneticism of the time we live in, make our best, most beautiful, and why not historical moments, too often be vague in our memory.
This freneticism connected with the material world goes hand in hand with forgetfulness,” said Mato during the opening speech. “I am convinced of one thing … We have chosen spirituality and we should be proud of this,” Mato added. Organized between Tirana and Paris, the theme of this year’s TIPhF was: “Deformation of mankind by human, anamorphosis of the city by human, human as a devastator” , a global topic chosen precisely to touch our human senses documented through photography.
This year TIPhF invited six photographers, three of which have Albanian origin: Andrea Shkreli (Belgium), Roland Serani (UK), Wisher Izairi (Germany), AichaKrasicka (France), Lila Zotou (Greece), and Simone Ludovico (Italy). Other international photographers including Antonio Fantasia (Italy), CarmaCasula (Spain), Julien de Casabianca (France), Nicola Boccardi (Italy), Peer Schoun (Germany), Marta Zgierska (Poland), etc. were selected by the international jury. The exhibition will stay open until April 22, 2016.
