In the city of Shkodra, everyone knows Nermin Shurdha, an economist who is in love with art and each time she is given the chance, she paints and decorates the walls of her city.

The entrance to her living space has been turned into a natural exhibit.

A place where Nermin spends endless hours lost in the pages of her books.

But how did her journey of becoming an artist begin?

“My passion for mural paintings came because I don’t like to paint on paper. It began around 10 years ago with relatives and people I knew, who asked me to paint their rooms, kitchens. I explored art around the people I knew,” she says.

She used her time in quarantine efficiently by creating special murals where the one that stands out the most is the remarkable Gustav Klimt’s “The Kiss” brought in an Albanian version.

“This is Klimt’s Kiss, a very famous painting of an Austrian painter. I love that painting and I wanted to make an Albanian version of it,” the artist says.

Nermin says she sees art as an escape from reality.