Mariana Kostandini is an Albanian photographer, curator, and art historian, based in Paris since 2006. She graduated from Ecole du Louvre in Contemporary Art and Panthéon-Sorbonne on social documentary photography. Engaging in photography since her young years, Mariana is particularly drawn to minimalist aesthetics, especially architectural photography. She published her first artist book 13e Ciel in September 2023.
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Her projects as a curator include From Their Hands - Museum On/Off Centre Pompidou Paris, Archive of Voices with Maks Velo, all exhibitions of Parisian Art Association Projektor, which she created in aim to promote young artists in unusual and informal spaces in Paris. She is a member of Saloon Art Network since September 2022.
I was born in an Albanian family of documentary photographers as two of my mother’s uncles Pandi and Misto Cici, were among the first ones in the region. Their work nourished my love for photography and confirmed me the power of storytelling. Later on, during my Art History studies, the humanist photography strongly impressed me by its capacity to testify and preserve memory. My interest was also progressively captivated by urban and architecture with a minimalistic yet poetic approach observing the city, testifying its metamorphosis and preserving the memory of public space as a valuable data. This approach, which is more critical than contemplative, has been nourished also by the fact that I’ve been eye witnessing with sadness the brutal urban transformation of my homeland Albania’s architectural landscape since the 90s. So since very early, I have been challenged to find balance and beauty in the metropolis chaos.
