Sislej Xhafa (Peja, Kosovo, 1970) is a contemporary artist known for his conceptual and ironic approach, exploring themes relating to immigration, identity, economics, and social dynamics. Through sculptures, installations, performances, and public interventions, Xhafa creates works that challenge conventions and invite the public to reflect on complex issues in contemporary society.
Xhafa ha collaborato più volte con l’Associazione Arte Continua, partecipando a due diverse edizioni di Art to Art. Among his most significant works are the installations and site-specific projects carried out in Montalcino e Casole d'Elsa, where his poetics intertwined with the historical and social context of the Tuscan territory. Through these collaborations, Xhafa has helped to renew the link between contemporary art and landscape, emphasising art's capacity to dialogue with communities and public spaces.
In 2022, he/she/they donated the artwork Unauthorized free sweets for an atheist for the realisation of Parco delle Neofite, Prato, taking part in the fundraiser Art for Reforestation
An artist of international renown, Sislej Xhafa continues to distinguish himself through his ability to question and reinterpret the dynamics of our time.
Sislej Xhafa He was born in 1970 in Pejë, Kosovo, and lives and works in New York. He is known for his artistic investigations into social, economic, and political realities, addressing the complexities of modern society. Over the years, Xhafa has focused his work on economic and social themes, analysing political realities and their relationship with the ever-changing variety of contemporary society. Through a minimalist language, often ironic and subversive, Xhafa explores phenomena such as tourism and forced illegality, using a wide range of media, including sculpture, drawing, performance, and photography.
In March 2022, he was appointed an Honorary Fellow of the’Florence Academy of Fine Arts. In 2022, Xhafa also founded ARKIV – Institute of Contemporary Art a Pejë, Kosovo, un’organizzazione pubblica senza scopo di lucro situata presso la scuola pubblica “Vaso Pash Shkodrani”. ARKIV è stata inaugurata a luglio 2022 con una mostra personale dell’artista Artan Hajrullahu.
“La realtà è più forte dell’arte. Come artista non voglio riflettere la realtà, ma interrogarla. La mia formazione sociale non abbraccia azioni razionali lineari. Mi avvicino al mondo e alla vita con un comportamento istintivo e primordiale.”
(Interview by G. Tawadros with Sislej Xhafa, exhibition catalogue Transmission Interrupted, Modern Art Oxford, 2009.
Xhafa has exhibited his works worldwide, participating in solo and group exhibitions at prestigious institutions, including the MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow (2022), Manifesta 14 in Pristina (2022), the François Pinault Foundation at Palazzo Grassi, Venice, the MAXXIin Rome, the MADRE Museum in Naples, the Tate Modern in London, the Tokyo Palace in Paris and numerous Biennales, including Venice (1997, 1999, 2005, 2013, 2017), Gwangju, Istanbul and Manifesta.
His work, deeply conceptual and politically engaged, continues to question and deconstruct the dynamics of contemporary society.