Marubi Museum of Photography welcomed Jutta Benzenberg with her personal exhibition Albanian Biography: From Now to 1991. The exhibition was curated by Kim Knoppers and will remain open until November 6, 2022 in Shkodra.
Jutta Benzenberg started her photographic cycle in the Albanian territory since the period of the fall of communism. The photographer wanted to be present during the chaotic situation of that period so she could capture the confrontation of the people with the change that was coming towards them. Her shots reflect that chaotic black and white period, and while focusing on the impression she got from them, Benzenberg published a book entitled Albanian Überleben (1993).
In her photographs the artist leaves no room for words, she focuses more on the sensitivity of the image and the emotion she feels when she’s facing the situations or the people she photographs. In her work Benzenberg is always in search of the human, the spiritual state of Albanians and always seeking to answer the questions through the image: “What does it mean to be human in Albania? What are the challenges that a man or a woman has to face in their life? What is the influence of the circumstances of the land on the identity of its people?”.
The exhibition invites you with a cycle of photographs starting from the present, which are exhibited in the ground floor and then continues on the first floor, taking the viewer back to a distant time that still feels present through the images.
Titles: I Have A Dream (2022) ; Circus of Tirana (2009); Partisans (2009 – 2013); Qamile (2009); Chambers of Dictatorship (2022); Seeking Tranquility (2008); 30 Days (2013); January 21 and the Consequences of that Event (2011); Protect the Children (2002); Girl from Durrës and Woman from Shkodra (2009); Underground (2010); Phoenix (2007); And the questions remain (2013), are exhibited together with their photographic cycle on the walls of the space dedicated to the photographer. Some of the images from her books were also shown in the Video Longue space, including: Albanian Survival (1991-1993); Heavy Beauty (2004); God in Albania (2015-2019); With the Past, Forward (2011).
Albanian Biography: From Now to 1991 builds the biography of Albanians through the photographer’s lens, but at the same time it reflects her personal and professional life built in Albania for thirty years in a row.
*Jutta Benzenberg lives and works between Munich and Tirana. Jutta Benzenberg studied photography at the Staatliche Fachakademie für Fotodesign Munich (DE) and then worked as a photographer for various magazines and theaters. She succeeds in depicting people in all their individuality and features, while focusing on them as participants in large emotionally charged events. In 1991 she traveled for the first time with her husband, the Albanian writer Ardian Klosi (1957-2012) through Albania to take pictures of those turbulent times, to photograph Albanian portraits and landscapes. After several trips to Albania, Jutta Benzenberg and Ardian Klosi published four books: Albanian Survival (1991 -1993); Heavy Beauty (2004); God in Albania (2015-2019); With the Past, Forward (2011). Since then, Jutta Benzenberg has had many exhibitions with Albanian themes in different cities of Germany, France, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Albania, Kosovo, Romania, Greece, Montenegro, Serbia and the USA. Since 2018, the photographer is a member of Agency Focus in Germany.
