Rudina Simicija
indipendent visual artist
Born in Scutari, Albania
Lives and works in Bologna, Italy
Student of Edi Rama at the Academy of Fine Arts in Tirana, in 1994 she moved to Italy.
She tooks part in the collective exhibition at the Trevi Flash Art Museum curated by Giancarlo Politi, at the Rome Quadriennale curated by Pio Monti. She has exhibited with Arienti, Adrian Paci, Beecroft, Cattelan, Chia, Kostabi, Lodola, Majorano, Montesano.
In the first works exhibited, during the Nineties, (among which several self-portraits stand out), the heritage of childhood and adolescence in Albania before the fall of the Berlin Wall begins to dilute in the milder and modern social context of the italian province. The experiences of the Soviet regime, like that of the family feuds, are rarely represented explicitly.
In the works of the following years, the scenes depicted, not ignoring issues such as marginalization or racial discrimination, suffered as a sort of friendly betrayal, are rendered with a dystopian expressiveness that reduces the possibility of the desired social redemption.
The evolution of the style is in the direction of an unconventional portraiture, often applied to groups of figures only partially sketched, in which the protagonists never stop performing and give the impression of persevering in the enterprise of believing in themselves and in the improvisation of their humanity.
In the most recent works, photography, clips and digital drawing coexist in a common scenario, as in the 'Filo da Torcere' series or in the 'Fil Rouge' series, with those invasive 'yarns' that break into the reality of landscapes and portraits. And as sometimes happens with thoughts and memories, different scenarios converge side by side or overlapping without interruption.