The 1990s marked one of the most dramatic turning points in Albania’s history, a decade in which nearly half a century of rigid order, gave way to the disorienting promises of freedom. It was in this crucible of change that German photographer Jutta Benzenberg began her work in Albania. For over a decade, she kept track, building an archive that was as personal as it was historical. But in 2006, a fire ravaged her home and destroyed her negatives from the 1990s. Only very few frames survived, many smoke-scarred, water-stained, or partially burned. 

The story could have ended there. But in 2023, with renewed courage, Jutta began to revisit the burned negatives. At the heart of this process was Olsi Hoxha, who curated and arranged the rescued material with a careful, intuitive sense of rhythm. The act of scanning, ordering and collaging the burned fragments gave rise to something new: images that hover between photography and art, history and memory, testimony and dream.