Marica & Santi

Sislej Xhafa moved to Italy in 1993 and studied at the Florence Academy, then relocated to the United States, where he now lives. He left his homeland, devastated by dictatorship and war: he is a native of Kosovo, referred to by Albanians, the ethnic group he belong to, as Kosova.

Renowned internationally for his research within social, economic and political environments associated to the numerous complexities ofcontemporary societies, Xhafa is interested in the phenomena of illegality and social strategies, and marks out the way in which they are unconsciously manipulated. The artist expresses himself by experimenting all media without partiality, from sculpture and drawing to photography, performance and video art.

Ironic and subversive, Sislej Xhafa always manages to draw inspiration from the complexity and contradictions of reality. It was he, indeed, who suggested a clandestine Albanian pavilion at the Venice Biennale, used the Ljubljana train station as an Exchange where people’s dreams and hopes were sold instead of shares, decorated the waiting room of a police station in Ghent like a grand palace, offered a change in perspective to the visitors of the 2013 Venice Biennale, inviting them to perch on the branches of a tree to get their hair cut in a makeshift shop.
The MAXXI in Rome is hosting until October a summa of a branch of his work that owes its title to the large installation created in the year 2000 in Tuscany with Arte Continua for Art to Art. On that occasion, Xhafa dug the earth on the hill facing Casole d’Elsa and wrote a giant “Benvenuto” (Welcome) on the ground. Emblematic of a nature which is always on the move (the grass has grown and the writing has disappeared), this work is an invitation to openness and acceptance.

Xhafa is capable of transforming the banality of everyday life into something extraordinary. In this work the truck covers make us ponder on dramatically contemporary issues, such as the redefinition of the concept of migrant, space, and border.

Header : Galleria Continua Srl
Reason: Wedding present Santo Logoteta - Maria Domenica Franco Basile Rognetta
Bank: MONTE DEI PASCHI DI SIENA SPA - PIAZZA DELLA CISTERNA N°9 - SAN GIMIGNANO (SI) ITALY
Bank account: 000000718464
SWIFT/BIC: PASCITMMSGI
IBAN : IT72F0103072000000000718464

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