{"id":80380,"date":"2025-09-22T19:51:57","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T17:51:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/?p=80380"},"modified":"2025-09-23T15:53:01","modified_gmt":"2025-09-23T13:53:01","slug":"dont-look-back-at-the-burning-house-albania-of-the-1990s-in-photographs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/dont-look-back-at-the-burning-house-albania-of-the-1990s-in-photographs\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cDon\u2019t Look Back at the Burning House\u201d: Albania of the 1990s in Photographs"},"content":{"rendered":"

At a time when 1990s Albania was struggling to rebuild its identity between poverty and hope, a foreign yet empathetic eye chose to stay and document reality with a camera in hand.<\/p>\n

German photographer <\/span>Jutta Benzenberg<\/span> returns with an exhibition in Tirana, one that reflects not only the history of a country but also the personal drama of loss and resilience.<\/span><\/p>\n

The photographs selected for the exhibition were salvaged from her home that burned down in 2006. Others come from negatives that survived untouched, while some have been reimagined as collages by the exhibition\u2019s curator, <\/span>Olsi Hoxha<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen they asked me to scan the negatives, it was very difficult. As I worked, I could barely breathe. Now, thanks to this process, I am at peace with what happened. It was hard to look at the burned house, the images of my husband. The exhibition speaks of emotions and awareness; it is the story of Albania, of myself, of my family. My trauma is no longer as strong,\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014 <\/span>Jutta Benzenberg<\/span><\/p>\n

The exhibition, titled <\/span>\u201cDon\u2019t Look Back at the Burning House,\u201d<\/span> is open at the Heinrich B\u00f6ll Stiftung cultural space on Skanderbeg Square. It offers the public a glimpse into Albania of that era, with people facing the ruins of communism.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI learned that Jutta experienced something extraordinary as a photographer. The burning of her house with the entire archive\u2026 I can\u2019t imagine what her work was like in those years. For me it is very important, because for years I have been working to bring everything back from the \u201990s. It hasn\u2019t been easy, because these losses were not only material but also emotional,\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014 <\/span>Goekhan Tuncer, Executive Director of HBS<\/span><\/p>\n

At the opening of the exhibition, which will remain open until November 16, the <\/span>EU Ambassador to Albania, Silvio Gonzato<\/span>, was also present.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cJutta\u2019s photographs are a portrayal of Albania in the 1990s \u2014 years of transformation, hope, expectations and ambitions, but also of displacement, emigration, and loss. It is beautiful how you have presented them in such a human way. We are faced with a troubling past,\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u2014 <\/span>Silvio Gonzato, EU Ambassador to Albania<\/span><\/p>\n

More than just an exhibition, <\/span>\u201cDon\u2019t Look Back at the Burning House\u201d<\/span> is also the title of Jutta Benzenberg\u2019s new photography book.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\" \"\" \"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At a time when 1990s Albania was struggling to rebuild its identity between poverty and hope, a foreign yet empathetic eye chose to stay and document reality with a camera in hand. German photographer Jutta Benzenberg returns with an exhibition in Tirana, one that reflects not only the history of a country but also the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23,"featured_media":80398,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[153,1803],"tags":[243,151],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\u201cDon\u2019t Look Back at the Burning House\u201d: Albania of the 1990s in Photographs - Euronews Albania<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/euronews.al\/en\/dont-look-back-at-the-burning-house-albania-of-the-1990s-in-photographs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"\u201cDon\u2019t Look Back at the Burning House\u201d: Albania of the 1990s in Photographs - Euronews Albania\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"At a time when 1990s Albania was struggling to rebuild its identity between poverty and hope, a foreign yet empathetic eye chose to stay and document reality with a camera in hand. 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