Edi Hila

Edi Hila, Casa con Antenne (Without Communication), 2009, L’attesa alla Fermata (On Communiation), 2009 and La Mamma (Looking for the image), 2002. Photograph by Thierry Bal

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Edi Hila (b.1949, Albania)’s career spans across several decades and has managed to somehow survive political disillusion, persecution and censorship throughout. The ‘70s were a particularly difficult period for the artist, having been restrained from producing art by the secret police serving the Albanian Communist dictatorship. His work was read as too “impressionist” and not conformed to the image that the country wanted to project of itself internally and abroad. 

The Albanian transition to capitalism has been equally traumatic in many ways as the poetic portrait of the artist’s mother entitled La Mama [sic] suggests. Amidst the solitude of her apartment and the weakness of her elder days, the woman is captured by the painter in a feeble daily gesture, whilst operates her TV remote control. The image clearly shows that her entire world unwraps around her domestic life, a microcosm that keeps her safe and protected. 

After the end of the Communist regime and the consequent reintroduction of the right to private property, most flats and houses in Albania were claimed back by their former owners. As often is the case, when such a drastic change occurs, bribery and corruption ruled during the process and the shift from nationalised to privitised property (i.e. many fake documents and evidence produced to demonstrate a rightful and entitled ownership). These new landlords quickly proved to be not very compassionate with the occupiers. As a result, the weakest strata of the society lost the little they had, including the artist’s mother who was forced out of her own apartment. Abruptly and forcibly uprooted from the comfort-zone of her flat, the woman passed away soon after. Poignantly, the portrait encapsulates the end of an era and that of a life.

Edi Hila at Liverpool Biennial 2010

Casa con Antenne (Without Communication), 2009
Oil on canvas 116.5 x 176.5 cm

L’attesa alla Fermata (On Communiation), 2009
Oil on canvas 99 x 163 cm

La Mamma (Looking for the image), 2002
Acrylic on canvas 82 x 101.5 cm

Exhibited at 52 Renshaw Street