Ahead with the Past / Jutta Benzenberg

Ardian Klosi describes Albania as a ship that must steer a course through an ocean of backward-looking currents before it can finally reach the European port of affluence and order. This ship features again on the cover photograph of the new book by Jutta Benzenberg. Except this time it is made of stone: cemented in forever, a nautical/terrestrial hybrid, torn between new awakening and resignation.

With sensitivity and subtle humour, yet frequently ruthless, the photographer portrays the country and her own existence within it in a way that only someone who now calls the country their own can do. The book is the continuation of a project initiated twenty years ago with the Albanian author Ardian Klosi. In nine series the photographer narrates individual Albanian stories which together produce a touching portrait of a country.