The Art House in Shkodra opened the solo exhibition of Albanian artist Idlir Koka, titled “Borrowed Skin.”

The phrase “borrowing skin” serves as a metaphor used by the artist to describe this series of paintings created over the past year. His works explore trauma, pain, and doubt, all traced through the lines of the skin.

The exhibition is curated by Stefano Romano and supported by the Ministry of Tourism, Culture, and Sports.

Idlir Koka is an Albanian artist whose work explores the fragile surfaces of memory, history, and identity. With soft brushstrokes and pale colors, he transforms everyday objects and architectural fragments into spaces of traces, pressure, and metaphor.

His artistic practice often draws from the post-socialist experience while opening toward universal narratives.

Koka has presented his works in solo and group exhibitions across Europe, including SWAB Art Fair Barcelona (2023), NAAN Gallery (2023), Bazament Art Space (2022), Zeta Gallery (2018, 2020), and the National Gallery of Arts in Tirana (2005–2016).

He has also participated in international projects such as “Cosi vicina cosi lontana – Albania prima e dopo 1990” at the Museum of Contemporary Art Villa Croce, Genoa (2008), the Biennale del Mediterraneo (Italy, 2009), the Luciano Benetton Imago Mundi Collection, and the Künstlerhaus Artist Residency in Salzburg (2017).

/a.c/