“she does not fake it… she just does it”. This is the name of the personal exhibition of Iva Seferi, held at the FAB Gallery (UA), from 16th-23rd of December, 2019, curated by Vladimir Myrtezai. The exhibition chooses to speak through video, during most of the time. Six videos in total: “Head”, “Detected”, “The path”, “Equilibrium”, “The self-portrait” and “Definition” convey experiences and consequences of unidentified events through viewing and sound but not through speech.
What dominates in the videos is the feminine nude, which does not aim sensual reflection, even though the nude is aesthetically admirable. The whole womanly presence in the video conveys the lack of peace, the shock, and the effort for salvation in successive battles. Iva Seferi represents the lonely woman, combining in her “battles” the fragility and strength, femininity and masculinity within the same being, by not sparing bloodshed and rough scenes in all the confusion. In her work, her personal worldview collides with the general social worldview, pointing out the deep inconsistencies between them.
Her dreamy world, reflected through the videos, is a tormenting nightmare. But the causes of this torment are undetermined. The woman at the centre of the video and the shadows that torment her are far from ordinary and tangible. Nor do we know whether it is about restraint (exercised by the society) or self-restraint (moving away from the society), but we feel this is the right way towards knowing oneself.
Stripped naked, Iva Seferi’s woman-character, at times is prey to the violent and portentous embrace (“The Path”) and is sometimes represented by a childhood toy (the doll, now mutilated, with goggled eyes covered from hands not to see the massacre) (“The self-portrait”). Obviously, she is not keen on what is substantive (material), but tends towards spirituality, the space where the incentives to breathe freely are strong.
Her video story proves a reality parallel to the everyday one. We do not understand whether all that is presented is an imagination or a product of the experience; whether it is a journey of the unconscious towards consciousness or vice versa?
* Iva Seferi was born on 01.07.1983, in Tirana. She attended “Jordan Misja” Art Lyceum for Painting and Graphics (1998-2002) and studied at the Academy of Fine Arts for Conceptual Art, today called Multimedia Art (2002-2006). She has collaborated with artists like Cesare Pietroiusti and Salvatore Falci for various art performances, held in Tirana in 2005. She realized “Performance 0+” (dualism) at an art event organized by EDS Foundation in Tirana. She participated in the 2006 Expoarte – Citta di Montichiari art fair (Brescia, Italy). She has participated in a number of joint exhibitions, such as: “Red art lights”, in the Zenit gallery (Tirana, 2006); “Dreaming of the Years” (retrospective), at the Zenit Gallery (Tirana, 2007); “In front of” (Durrës, 2008); “In front of 2” (Vlora, 2008); “Profile 042”, in the gallery “042” (Tirana, 2009); “Open Studios”, organized by Tirana Art Lab (Tirana, 2010). Her first solo exhibition, open at the FAB Gallery (Tirana, 2019), is named “She does not fake it… She just does it”.
