In Turin, Mirela Strora’s photography exhibition “Unknown Moods” is displayed on the large windows of the Arci Antonio Banfo club in the Barriera di Milano district. The exhibition features fourteen photographs capturing Strora’s last journey before the lockdown, including a visit to see Leonardo’s Lady with an Erminein Krakow. Born in Tirana and raised in Shkodra, Strora moved to Turin 18 years ago to study sculpture and painting at the Accademia Albertina. She has been interested in painting and photography since childhood, influenced by Albania’s photographic heritage, particularly the Pietro Marubi archive. For Strora, photography is also a way to preserve memory, especially of her maternal grandparents, of whom she has few recollections. Borders, however, tell another story. “In the 1990s, at the end of the communist regime, my parents lost their jobs and began traveling to Montenegro, an hour from Shkodra, to work at the local market. They took me with them because customs didn’t confiscate goods from people traveling with children. Even though there was a checkpoint, the landscape seemed the same to me; there was no difference. When I returned in 2018, I noticed a point where the border was visible: it was marked only by the newly paved Albanian road, while the Montenegrin side was older and more faded.”

By Adriana Riccomagno