Erdiola Kanda Mustafaj (b. 1992, Elbasan, Albania) is an Albanian-Italian multidisciplinary artist currently based in Paris, working across photography, video installation, and sound.
Her practice weaves together diasporic memory and political history, developing poetic vocabularies that unsettle dominant narratives and propose alternative ways of inhabiting inherited silence. Drawing on private archives, oral transmission, and collective memory, she approaches the Albanian diasporic experience as a complex, living archive — one in which forced migration, embodied language, loss and resilience continuously negotiate their place.
Her current research engages with the Cham-Albanian history of exile and cultural erasure, situating aesthetic practice as a critical site for rethinking the entanglements of identity, territory, and memory — where the personal and the political surface as one continuous, unresolved inheritance.
Recent exhibitions include: “Fry, Të frysh, Frymë” at Kunst-im-kreuzgang, Germany, 2025, “An Unusual Face” at Italian Cultural Institute in Stockholm, Sweden, 2026, “Islands of Time” at Marubi National Museum of Photography, Shkodër, 2025, “Double Language” at Art Explora x Vila 31 Tirana, 2025, “Pasqyra e Lëndes” at Giovane Fotografia Italiana, Reggio Emilia, 2025, and “Kur pas kodre binte hena” at CACP at Villa Pérochon, France, 2022.
Still from video work “Fry, të frysh, Frymë” – Albania, 2024
Curriculum Vitae
Education
2023-2025 Reflexions 2.0 Masterclass
2019-2020 Internship at Cesura, Milan, Italy
2017-2019 Master in Photography and Visual Communication at Riccardo Bauer, Milan, Italy
Solo exhibitions
2025 “Fryj, të frysh, frymë” at Kunst-im-kreuzgang, Bielefeld, Germany
2026 “An unusual face” at Italian Cultural Institute in Stockholm, Sweden
Awards and grants
2026 Culture Moves Europe, grant for individual mobility in Tirana, Albania
2025 Honourable mention for the project “Pasqyra e Lëndës” at Giovane Fotografia Italiana, Fotografia Europea – Reggio Emilia, Italy
Group exhibitions
2026 Ardhje Prize, Young Visual Artist Award, organised by Zeta Gallery – Tirana, Albania
2025 Re-Enacting A Fable x TAWE (Tirana Art Weekend) organised by AVAN, Vila 31 – Tirana
2025 Homeward, Marubi National Museum of photography – Shkodër, Albania
2025 “Double Language” at Vila 31 x Art Explora – Tirana, Albania
2025 South by the Sea, Galeria e bregdetit – Vlorë, Albania
2025 Luigi Ghirri Prize x Fotografia Europea – Reggio Emilia, Italy
2024 Fuzhou x Niort – Rencontres de la jeune photographie internationale, Strait Culture Art Center – Fuzhou, China
2024 Ardhje Prize, Young Visual Artists Award, organised by Zeta Gallery – Tirana, Albania
2022 Rencontres de la jeune photographie internationale, Villa Pérochon – Niort, France
2021 Les Balkannes – Association Contempl’Art – Paris, France
2020 Cosa manca? Il diario delle assenze, SpazioTrart – Trieste, Italy
2019 Seven Albanian Photographer. A residency, curated by François Cheval – Shkodër (AL)
2019 From A to B, Fondazione Stelline – Milan, Italy
2018 Bauer Update, Fondazione Stelline – Milan, Italy
Residencies
2026 Hidden Narratives Residency at Royal Geographical Society, in collaboration with Photoworks, London, UK
2025 Italian Institute of Culture – Stockholm, Sweden
2025 Art Explora x Vila 31 – Tirana, Albania
2024 Artists Unlimited – Bielefeld, Germany
2023 Photoxenia and G&A Mamidakis Foundation – Crete, Greece
2022 Rencontres de la jeune photographie internationale – Niort, France
2019 Seven Albanian Photographer. A residency – Shkodër, Albania
Workshops and Talks
2026 Public talk with Daniel Urey at Färgfabriken konsthall – Stockholm, Sweden
2026 Public talk with Abir Boukhari at the Italian Institute of Culture – Stockholm, Sweden
2026 Master lecturer for Reflexions 2.0 at L’Eglise – Palermo, Italy
2026 Workshop at FotoDok – Utrecht, Netherlands
2025 Public talk “Culture as a Vector for Living Together” for European Dialogues in Bosnia Herzegovina, supported by the Institut
Français – Sarajevo, Bosnia Herzegovina
2025 Public talk “The platform for artistic research and dissemination” in collaboration with Oral History Kosovo, Vila 31 – Tirana, Albania
2025 Performance “Fry, Të frysh, Frymë” at Art Explora Festival – Durrës, Albania
2024 Lecture at the Hochschule Bielefeld – University of Applied Sciences and Arts (HSBI)
2025 “Fry, Të frysh, Frymë” at Kunst-im-kreuzgang – Bielefeld, Germany
2025 Giovane fotografia italiana for Fotografia Europea – Reggio Emilia, Italy
Pubblications
2026 Photography, Memory & the Politics of the Archive, Aesthetica Magazine
2025/2026 Return from Chameria, written by Anne Bourrassè and Erdiola Kanda
2020/2021 Lo spazio vissuto, cambi di prospettiva per il decennio che verrà – Italian cultural institute in Tirana, Albania
2021/2022 Donne d’Albania in Italia, riflessioni, testimonianze, emozioni – curated by Rando Devole and Claudio Paravati
2022/2023 L’archivio generativo, Mondi che emergono dalle scatole – Italian Counci IX Edition