The Marubi National Museum of Photography is the first museum of photography in Shkoder, Albania, one of the richest in Europe with an archive of over 500.000 negatives in a period of time ranging from the end of the 19th century to end of the 20th century. The first photographic studio in Albania was opened in Shkoder in 1856, by Italian Pietro Marubbi, shortly after the canonization of photography in 1839. A city situated at the edges of the Ottoman Empire, where the practice of the photography was initially prohibited by law, what we note in the different generation of photographers is their efforts and desire to be contemporary and adapt to the time and the context from a socio-esthetic and technological point of view, same as the most important photographic studios in Europe during that time. Through a variety of people, landscapes, architecture, events, tradition, costumes, our program “Marubi: The moving backdrop” aims to reach out to communities who cannot have access to the museum due to cultural or economic problems, but it is at the same time a tribute to the photographic work of the Marubi dynasty and other photographers of our collection who we often find portrayed in suburban or countryside areas, photographing people who could not afford to pay the high cost of a photography taken in a studio but yet part of a visual desire to narrate, document and remained fixed in memory.

The Marubi National Museum of Photography is the first museum of photography in Shkoder, Albania, one of the richest in the Balkans region and Europe with an archive of over 500.000 negatives in a period of time ranging from the end of the 19th century to end of the 20th century. The first photographic studio in Albania was opened in Shkoder in 1856 by Italian Pietro Marubbi and later continued by the family of his gardener from Kodheli family whose descendants studied photography in Trieste and Paris. Pietro, Kel and Gegë Marubi knows as the Marubi dynasty were the predecessor of the photography art in our country and encouraged others to engage in this activity and thanks to their contribution, nowadays the museums boast a varied collection of 13 photographers. After being relocated in a new building in May 2016, the mission of the museum, is to build a community around itself in order to sensitize generations about a common cultural and historical heritage through the images of people, landscapes, architecture, events, tradition, costumes. This is why we are building intergenerational programs to make old and young generation come together, build a memory of the past and keep it alive to the present. In order for this to happen, proper educational programs are being built for primary education- workshops with children-high schools-students to be engaged in the digitalization and cataloguing process- universities- training programs for museum guides, reception and activities assistance- in partnership with public and private institutions. One of these program is “Marubi: The moving backdrop” where the museum reaches out to a community, usually in the suburbs of the city, which cannot have access to the museum due to cultural or economic problems. We are doing this through workshops in collaborations with the community itself, educational institutions or other organizations working in the field. The aim is to learn about art and photography through entertainment and cooperation. During these activities, which are mainly targeted to children, they get to know more about the Museum, the rich photographic collection in a ludic manner: a theoretical introduction about the Marubi story is intertwined with practical work in the realization of a photographic backdrop, which is how the first photographic studio of Pietro Marubbi was born: in the courtyard of his house. On a printed white canvas, through drawings, paintings, cut-outs from Marubi archive photos, children build their own backdrop, in a non-institutional place and take photos of one another in front of it. Their backdrop has also been places around the city where everyone could stop by and take a photography in an improvised studio. For this project we have been working with the Roma community in our city and also other cities in Albania. They are also part of other workshops we organize. For the museum it is important to find ways to approach different communities to art, especially those who would find it difficult to access it. The backdrop is a tribute to the photographic work of the Marubi dynasty and other photographers of our collection who we find often portrayed in suburban or countryside areas, photographed with people who could not afford to pay the high cost of a photography taken in a studio but yet part of a visual desire to narrate, document and remained fixed in memory.

The extensive collection of Marubi Museum, at the same time the biggest photo archive in Europe, is interesting from a historical, sociological, cultural and anthropological as well as artistic point of view. In narrating the Albanian history through images – in a period which goes from the Ottoman Empire to the communism rule- it is at the same time a sense of belonging to a broader identity which makes Albanians so close to the European narration and important historical events. From men and women dressed in traditional city clothing to village or mountain clothing, from groups of patriots to foreign governors, from the urban bourgeoisie and shepherds they all pose inside the Marubi studio or is portrayed by the photographers in their native ambiance. “The moving backdrop” which reaches out to people of communities which normally do not access the museum, reminds us of the challenges of social inclusion which Europe is facing nowadays. Anonymous people who still live on the fringes of society, marginalized, ignored are brought back “to light” through photography. Funny moments of community work to build a backdrop, taking photos of one another, inviting passers-by to take their own snapshots, a way to bring existence into being and tell their own history.