The archives of three pioneering Albanian women artists
Lumturi Blloshmi, Diana Miziri, Liljana Çefa

the course of 2024 Tirana Art Lab, in collaboration with Instituto Susch, has been working on documenting and digitizing the archives of three pioneering Albanian women artists: Lumturi Blloshmi (1944–2020), Diana Miziri (1951–2005), and Liliana Çefa (b. 1940). This initiative highlights their invaluable contributions to the albanian and regional art history, ensuring their rightful place in the broader narrative of contemporary art.

Continuing its activities since its launch in 2016, Instituto Susch began executing a long-term research programme in January 2023. The program is based on elaboration of the oeuvre of women artists from Central & Eastern Europe: Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Kosovo, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia and Slovenia. The principal subject of the research will be the works of women artists from the 1960s, 70s and 80s. To provide a historical context, the research will also extend to earlier decades, with particular attention to the avant-garde of the 1920s and 30s. A result of the research will be a book to be published by the Instituto Susch, planned for the end of 2027.

Lumturi Blloshmi (1944 – 2020), affectionately known as Lume, is now recognized as one of Albania's most important artists. However, her journey was an odyssey of personal hardship and defiance against a repressive regime. Losing her hearing at a young age was merely the opening act in a life marked by resilience.
Born into an ostracized noble family targeted by the communist regime, Lume’s persecution began with the execution of her father when she was just two months old. Lume honed her skills at the prestigious Jordan Misja Artistic High School (from 1959–1963) and graduated with a degree in painting from the Academy of Arts in Tirana (1968). Despite her education, the government assigned Lume a mundane job as an offset printing worker after graduation.
Like many artists of her generation, Lumturi Blloshmi adhered to the constraints of socialist realism until the late 1980s. The 1990s marked a turning point as Lume emerged as a leading contemporary artist. Moving beyond socialist realism, she embraced diverse media such as installation, photography, and performance.
Lume dedicated her life fully to her art, famously declaring ‘I married my art!’ She remained unmarried and childless, prioritising her creative pursuits. Recognising the importance of her legacy, she entrusted her artistic estate to her nephew, fellow art graduate Ervin Blloshmi. Curator Adela Demetja, who collaborated closely with Lume from 2016 onwards, continues to champion Blloshmi's work through exhibitions and research, ensuring her art and story inspire future generations. Her participation in the 59th Venice Biennale in 2022, curated by Adela Demetja, marked a significant posthumous recognition of her contributions to contemporary art. Despite the numerous obstacles she faced, Lume remained a resilient and nonconformist artist, deeply connected to the rich tapestry of Balkan traditions and the socio-political shifts in Albania. Her legacy is cemented in the annals of Albanian art history, celebrated for her intellectual clarity, creative vigour and the transformative impact of her work.

Diana Miziri (1951 - 2005) pursued her studies at the Academy of Arts in Tirana in the Textile Department, graduating in 1973. After graduating from the Academy of Arts, Miziri worked at the design bureau of the Carpet Factory in Kavajë as a rug designer for export. In 1973, she moved to Tirana, where she became a drawing teacher.
With the changes that occurred in 1990 her artistic practice blossomed with energy and productivity. In the 90s, Diana returned to the pictorial approach. This emerged from an intuitive process, and she poured it solely into her textile pieces.
Diana’s textile works created in the early 90s document the new found freedom of expression, reflected in compositions that tend toward free geometrical and organic abstraction. The interplay between materials and colours, as well as breaking away from repetitive pattern weaving, set the tone for these works. Her approach, although intuitive, played a decisive role in elevating her practice, and weaving more generally, to works of art.
During the post-communist transitional years, there were significant shortages of materials and means for producing textile works. As a result, Diana often used spare materials from the textile industry, remnants from the communist era, and combined them with leftover materials from imported products, such as coffee and rice sacks, as well as various cotton, wool, and linen threads. Most of her works were produced in her home, which was adapted to function as a studio.
In 1992 Diana was among the first Albanian fashion designers. In 1994 she became a member of the Linda association of women artists, and participated in many exhibitions and workshops organized by the association, which stimulated her to transform her practice further. She began exploring new techniques, producing installation works that incorporated textiles with adhesive techniques on glass and creating silhouettes on film negatives, which were projected on walls. She also experimented with intertwining textiles with metal structures, although some of these projects remained incomplete and unexhibited. From 1998, she taught drawing and painting at the Jordan Misja Art Lyceum, until her death in 2005.

Liljana Çefa (b. 1940, Tirana) currently lives and works in Shkodër. Her passion for art was nurtured by her father, her primary school teachers, and her uncle Loro Kovaçi, who encouraged her to pursue art seriously. This support led her to the Artistic Lyceum in Tirana, where she studied under noted teachers such as Kel Kodheli, Vilson Kilica and Abdurrahim Buza.
She was the first woman to enroll in the painting department of Albania’s Higher Institute of Arts, from which she graduated in 1966. After graduation, she returned to Shkodër, where she met her future husband. His support allowed her to fully devote herself to her art. Upon retiring at age 50, Çefa dedicated even more time to painting, teaching children’s classes, and working in her home studio. She chose to retain her maiden name, Çefa, in honour of her father’s wish for the family name to continue.
Most of her significant works were created before 1990, shaped by Socialist Realist themes that were largely dictated by the ideology of the time. However, within these constraints, she maintained her unique perspective, focusing on female figures as her main subjects, whether they represented mothers, fighters, or workers. These characters were part of compositions addressing themes required by the League of Artists and Writers, and her works were exhibited in group shows, mainly in Tirana, with some becoming part of the state collection. Despite state-dictated themes, her primary inspiration has always been children, followed later by nature. Portraits of children dominate her pre-1990s works, where she found subjects in her own children, their friends, and cousins. Painting and drawing have been lifelong pursuits for Çefa, beginning with oil colours on board and canvas, and later transitioning to coloured pencils on paper, a medium she found easier to manage due to an eye condition she has had since childhood.
Several works by Çefa are part of the collection of the National Gallery of Arts in Tirana.

This research is supported by Muzeum Susch, founded by Grażyna Kulczyk, serves as a dynamic platform for discussion and exploration, with a focus on amplifying the voices of underrepresented female artists. By reinterpreting the artistic canon, the museum seeks to honor marginalized perspectives, transforming them into powerful voices that inspire and inform. As part of its broader mission, Instituto Susch launched a long-term research program in January 2023, examining the works of women artists from Central and Eastern Europe, particularly from the 1960s, 70s, and 80s.