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| Elton Gllava |
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Ali Mihali - The hidden identities
By Emilio D'Itri
The photo essay has been developed at the Ali Mihali’s psychiatric hospital of Vlore, in the southern part of Albany. From August to December 2009 Ali Mihali was overcrowded: 203 patients, 170 men and 33 women. Immediately, vis-avis to such a desolation, human frailty, and solitude, I felt a deepmy feelings got lost through an incredible friendliness. I spent several days going around, seeking frames to give voice to the people living in Ali Mihali. The more I went round, the more I got lost through rooms, corridors, toilets, and common areas where the absence of people was usually predominant compared to their presence. Furthermore, the patients' presence gave evidence of the absence and the abandon of a society which is unable to manage this kind of illness and considers the psychiatric patient such as someone to hide. Someone to be afraid of. My intention to shoot some blurred pictures reflects the eye of a culture that is so stubborn and blind to not face the mentally illness issue. A glance can be a really powerful tool in order to communicate this experience. It can hurt, excite, silence, and it can stimulate people to think. Each glance I met was a whirl in which I dreamt to fall down, getting hurt.
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Biography
Elton Gllava, originally from Vlore, Albania, lived in Rome since 1992. D After classical studies he studied photography at the Roman School of Photography, specializing in photojournalism. Since 2009 he has carried out work on the gypsies, in the integrated program on the earthquake in the Abruzzi, and on the "identity hidden" in a psychiatric hospital in Albania.
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