They are just drawings. They create shadows and light, just as any drawing can. Yet they illuminate life in all its facets. Childhood remains the cornerstone of existence – every visitor inevitably encounters the child within themselves as they trace the artist’s memories. Merita Selimi-Spahija distils much into so little. She awakens nostalgia from slumber. She reconnects you with your grandparents and reminds you of a calm life with them. Older generations are our shield when we are children. More or less, this is how I felt at the exhibition “Sensitivity to Reformation” by the visual artist from Shkodër.

She confronts the past with a contemporary approach, armed with just what is necessary: a pencil and paper. That is all this journey requires. A sheet of paper becomes her creative home, and the pencil seems to respond to her inner call. Memories are made to emerge, reformed into experiences shared by all. For her, art is a testimony to the moments lived. Every drawing hung on the walls of Galeria “Qahili” is like a room of its own in a house layered with memories. Each viewer takes something personal and comes to understand that our recollections are, more or less, the same—especially where traditions converge.
Even the evening itself felt like a celebration among friends, perhaps a little more, like a gathering of families. With most of the visitors, Selimi-Spahija shared fragments of her memories. Such was the nature of the invitation to her first solo exhibition in Pristina at the Galeria “Qahili”, hosted by the painter Eshref Qahili, who had welcomed her into his creative space many times before. The gallery is known not only for hosting the city’s most distinctive exhibitions but also for the charm found in the moments created within it. A key part of this charm is the hospitality of the entire Qahili family, who rarely let anyone pass without a warm greeting. Beyond this, the artist herself found her works communicating almost instinctively with the gallery.
“It was a beautiful trace, and perhaps that’s where the journey began. I liked the gallery for its uniqueness; perhaps it suits my work best, with its modern, minimalist space. My drawings are rather delicate, not every space can accommodate them. I appreciate Nita for her contemporary style and the innovations she brings,” said the artist from Shkodër, who has a strong connection to Kosovo through her grandfather from Gjakova—a link that forever ties her to her emotions and memories.
As I walked around, I saw women in full-length dresses, standing firm in their fate; people close together, some pressed tightly, others struggling for space; mothers carrying children on their backs and children always with eyes cast behind them. Life, even in its quietness, seems to unfold in many directions. In the drawings, the subject is not just the person, but in the carefully rendered details, their entire destiny is etched. As in life, so in the artist’s drawings, humans carry their dreams, disappointments, fatigue, and hope.
Marubi’s photographs are a valuable artistic heritage, even for the artist herself. Her relationship with photography, drawing from Marubi’s legacy, is a form of expression through which she communicates with her audience. “It’s a kind of dialogue we create with memory; it’s a way to bring forth certain fragments that allow for memorisation and interaction between us as a culture,” she explains.
The exhibition brings together works from various periods of her career. By revealing her own emotions, she also traces those of every viewer who pauses before her work. “I have preserved a sort of diagram of my drawing cycles. An artist always scrapes at the emotion of the moment—the one you see and the one you keep in memory—and that scraping is a good thing. I often begin with memories of my childhood and Shkodër, and perhaps this is a recurring companion,” she says.
Merita Selimi-Spahija is a visual artist and educator with over thirty years of experience in artistic creation. Specialising in graphics and drawing, she has distinguished her career through successful exhibitions both in Albania and abroad. She has participated in prestigious events such as Manifesta 14, the International Graphics Biennale, and the Drawing Biennale. As a curator and cultural project creator, she has left a lasting impact on the artistic and cultural scene.

Through her connection as both a student and educator at the University of Tirana, she has also formed friendships that deeply appreciate her work. One such friend is the well-known painter and art professor at the University of Prishtina, Majlinda Kelmendi. Their friendship, rooted in mutual dedication to art, has endured despite the challenges encountered along the way.

“In a way, we have followed each other as female artists who never let go of art. This is important because many from our generation gave up for various reasons. Merita stood out even as a student for her talent. She is a sensitive artist who, through her pencil and imaginative creations, offers us unique works. When we talk about her work, many artists and I admire it immensely. Truly, it’s something special—art does not require much, yet with little, she creates wonderful, unique, and admirable things,” Kelmendi said in a brief conversation during the exhibition at Galeria “Qahili”.
In her drawings, one finds a rare pause within the artist’s stages. According to the exhibition curator, Nita Qahili, Merita’s works possess a distinctive timbre, a unique breath. Growing up in an artistic environment and a family of artists, she has learned to use diverse metaphors and narratives to reflect the moments that have shaped her as an artist.
“What we see is not merely a movement of the pencil on paper, but the fulfilment of thought and hand movement culminating in the final stroke. This stroke reflects the very journey of searching to reveal the known—born from feelings and perceptions etched into fingertip traces. The light and shadow created through combined materials form structures that deepen thought and the need to create. They echo in movement and harmony among the elements that construct the composition—a harmony woven through shading and lines that gives the impression of an infinite space,” writes Nita Qahili in the curatorial concept for “Sensitivity to Reformation.”

According to her, in this exhibition, drawing emerges as a critical practice: a space where consciousness, perception, and material interact in tension, and where creation is not only the product of knowledge but its transformation. “As cognitive beings, we are immersed in an endless process of figuration, rationalisation, categorisation, and interpretation. But art challenges these reductive impulses: it restores the human figure’s complexity, which everyday measurements try to erase. Rather than summarising the body as data, the drawing exposes it as a terrain of tension, memory, and perception,” she adds.
Merita Selimi-Spahija’s exhibition “Sensitivity to Reformation” will be on view through 12 December 2025. The exhibition is supported by the Ministry of Culture, Youth, and Sport.