Art Basel Miami Beach 2026

For Art Basel Miami Beach, Voloshyn Gallery is pleased to present «Saharaja» by Abi Shehu. The video installation is composed of fifteen vintage television sets, each displaying a looping animation derived from photographic documentation of graffiti found on the walls of the former Spaç prison and labour camp in Albania (1968-1990).

The installation takes its title from a poem by Albanian poet Vilson Blloshmi, who was arrested and executed by the communist regime after his poetry was declared hostile to the state. In the poem, the desert emerges as a barren, lifeless landscape. This image informs the conceptual framework establish a connection with the ruins of Spaç, a site marked by violence, isolation, and decades of deterioration. Although now, a cultural monument continues to deteriorate due to the absence of adequate preservation. The graffiti documented by the artist have survived only on isolated sections of the walls where the original plaster remains intact. Many other traces have already disappeared as a result of the building’s gradual deterioration. Captured in photographs, these drawings, inscriptions, and signs resemble archaeological findings, preserving not only the images themselves but also fragments of the surfaces on which they were originally created.

The graffiti are believed to have been drawn during the final years of the prison’s operation (1987–1990), although their authors remain unidentified. The recurring motifs, including television sets, advertisements, sports, erotic imagery, and characters from foreign cinema, reveal an imaginative world shaped by the prisoners’ perception of life beyond the camp. They reflect an impulse to move beyond the ideological framework of the communist regime and maintain a connection with a reality that remained inaccessible within the conditions of isolation and strict control. Among these motifs, the television set occupies a particularly significant place, appearing as an imagined window onto an inaccessible world. By presenting the animations across fifteen vintage television sets, the installation returns this recurring image to physical space, establishing a dialogue between the original graffiti and the objects through which they are now encountered.

Each animation unfolds in a continuous loop. Repetition functions as a reflection on the cyclical recurrence of history. As Spaç continues to deteriorate, the uninterrupted movement of the drawings resists this process of erasure. Through the convergence of archival documentation, moving images, and obsolete technological objects, “Saharaja” explores the fragile relationship between memory, historical preservation, and the persistence of images beyond the conditions in which they were created.

Professional access:
December 2, 11am - 7pm
December 3, 4pm - 7pm

Public access:
December 4 - December 6, 11am - 6pm