Albanian Scapes PHOTOBOOK
Amazon Store: ISBN Hardcover, ImageWrap: 9798881301958
Blurb Bookstore: ISBN Hardcover, ImageWrap: 9798881287856
Blurb Bookstore: ISBN Hardcover, Dust Jacket: 9798210988904
Standard Landscape, 10x8 inch, 25x20cm
100 pages, Premium Lustre Paper,
With the Foreword by Arch. Andi Papastefani and Dr. Falma Fshazi
A publication of Tatì Space Photo Books
A photographic journey into Albanian Landscape as seen from an architect and urban planner. A Landscape in a constant transformation under the pressure of human activities and rapid urbanization. A fragile landscape that will not be the same. The photos in this book cover a period of time from 2008 to 2022.
“Albanian Scapes is my photographic exploration of Albania’s evolving landscapes—a visual reflection on place, change, and memory. For over 25 years, I have used photography as a tool to document the dramatic changes taking place across the country—from the remote mountain villages of the north to the densely urbanized zones of the capital. The series reflects my concern for the shifting relationship between nature and society, and my desire to preserve, through image, what is rapidly disappearing.
This body of work is both documentation and meditation on the resilience and vulnerability of the Albanian environment. It traces a north-to-south journey across Albania, capturing the stark contrasts between untouched natural environments—such as the remote valleys of Theth and Orosh—and the ever-expanding urban sprawl of Tirana. The contrast is stark, and intentional. I am drawn to these juxtapositions: the coexistence of serenity and chaos, memory and erasure, presence and loss.
Albanian Scapes is the visual chronicle of a country in flux, shaped by layers of history, rupture, and resilience. Through my camera, I’ve sought to capture the tension between fragility and endurance that defines so much of Albania’s physical and cultural landscape. My images highlight the tension between what has been inherited and what is being reshaped. They are not simply records; they are questions—about what we value, what we preserve, and what we allow to disappear.”
In his preface In Albania- Between Natural and Human Landscape, Andi Papastefani writes- “In this invaluable publication, Alketa Misja offers a depiction of this ongoing aesthetic, cultural, and ethical contrast. She portrays all of these juxtapositions in her photographic narrative about Albania as an architect and photographer, using iconic images that urge people to think and consider the true value of the landscape, culture, and history, as well as what we have lost.
The pleasing sights in this aesthetic edition captivate both the eye and mind. Unlike other publications on Albania that only highlight the natural beauty or, in other cases, merely the urban anarchy, Alketa has been able to draw attention to the complexity, contrast, and problems of this country with which nature has been so generous. This publication emphasizes the responsibility of society and residents to carry out daily activities with as little negative impact on nature as possible.”
In her preface Landscape as Heritage, Falma Fshazi writes: “In the Albania of Albanian Scapes, we recall the cities that are permanently changing and increasingly occupied with tall buildings, bringing with it as many stories yet to be told. Many overlapping stories, managing to retain their individuality, much like the Albanian urban landscape whose transformation has continued with intensity toward the hills, plains and river banks, often entering where it does not belong, but unable to fundamentally alter the Mediterranean nature, the hospitable nature of the locals, or erase the traces of time.
In Alketa's photography, the natural landscape of Albania, from Theth to Lukovë, is a watery world, one made up of fresh, salty, ice-cold, or healing and warm waters that, when not adorning the rocky peaks, twist and turn through the plains protected by vertical mountains. Blue waters and white waters, shallow waters and deep waters, an ecological heritage, as much as the living memory of things, species and people who come to us through photographs, in a search for meaning for Albanians, Europeans and the worlds of tomorrow.”