'Shifting Borders: a personal journey in two cultures': images from Kosova, Albania, London and Leicester

‘边界转换：在两种文化中的个人之旅“将创造新的摄影图像，从阿尔巴尼亚的阿德瓦，伦敦和莱斯特唤起一个人的生活故事，作为一个更广泛的散居的象征-阿德瓦阿尔巴尼亚人。我出生在前南斯拉夫，父亲是斯洛伐克人，母亲是英国人，5岁时来到英国。在一个文化融合和模糊的环境中，我的研究将揭示我的经验的普遍性和跨国性。我的摄影作品将探索关于萨瓦战争与和平、个人身份和家庭关系的问题。从我的个人经历出发，我将把图像与更广泛的社会和政治问题联系起来。我将以弗卢瑟（V. Flusser）在他的著作《移民的自由：对民族主义的反对》（The Freedom of the Migrant：Objections to Nationalism）中的一些观察作为我的出发点。Flusser说，移民是未来的先锋，因为他们的他者性扰乱了我们日常的意识形态观念，他们的存在扰乱了我们生活的基础。然而，他淡化了痛苦和移民存在的辛酸，而我的作品将其视为核心;在这种程度上，我的作品从他的理论中发展出来，而不仅仅是说明它们。通过在“高雅艺术”的背景下展示我个人的历史，我希望加深人们对移民和身份的理解。该项目的重点是伦敦和莱斯特的阿尔巴尼亚社区，将处理住房、歧视和融合等问题。这项工作具有重要意义，因为阿尔巴尼亚侨民是一个代表性不足和很少被了解的少数民族。据估计，有10万阿尔巴尼亚族人居住在英国，其中许多人来自布拉迪斯拉发。他们复杂的历史使英国人很难理解他们，特别是当一个陷入困境的少数民族卷入社会的黑暗面时。他们形成了一个紧密联系的社区，有着难以渗透的关系网络;但由于我有独特的机会接触他们，我能够制作出照亮他们生活的作品;通过以艺术的方式捕捉这些生活的惊人图像，我希望让观众参与难民的困境。

'Shifting Borders: a personal journey in two cultures' will create new photographic images from Kosova, Albania, London and Leicester evoking the story of one person's life as emblematic of a wider diaspora- that of Kosova Albanians. I belong to this diaspora, having been born in Former Yugoslavia with a Kosova father and British mother and come to Britain when I was 5. In an environment where cultures are merging and blurring, my research will reveal the universality and trans-national nature of my experience. My photographs will explore issues around the Kosova war and peace, personal identity and family relationships.Working from my personal experience, I will link images to wider social and political issues on migration. I will take as my starting point some observations by V. Flusser in his book The Freedom of the Migrant: Objections to Nationalism. Flusser says that migrants are the avant-garde of the future as their otherness disturbs our everyday ideological perceptions and their presence disrupts the basis of our lives. However, he downplays the poignancy of suffering and of the migrant's existence, which my work recognises as central; and to that extent my work develops out of his theories rather than simply illustrates them.By presenting my personal history over time in a 'high art' context I hope to deepen the way people understand migration and identity. Where the project focuses on the Albanian communities in London and Leicester, issues such as housing, discrimination and integration will be addressed. The work is of significance as the Albanian diaspora is an under­ represented and little understood minority. An estimated 100,000 ethnic Albanians are living in the UK, many of them from Kosova. Their complicated history makes it hard for British people to understand them, especially as a troubled minority has become involved with the darker side of society. They form a close-knit community, with a network of relationships that can be difficult to penetrate; but as I have unique access to them I am able to produce work that will illuminate their lives; and by capturing striking images of these lives in an artistic way I hope to engage audiences with the plight of the refugees.