Lala Meredith-Vula

Lala Meredith-Vula was born in Sarajevo and moved to England in 1970. They attended Nottingham Trent University, Nottingham (1984–85) and Goldsmiths College, University of London (1985–88), then the University of Prishtina, Kosova (1988–90), for postgraduate studies.

In 1988, they were one of the exhibitors in the exhibition Freeze, organised by Damien Hirst which showcased the work of many of the artists who were later to become known as the Young British Artists. Since then Lala has exhibited widely internationally and was part of both the 48th Venice Biennale and the 2017 documenta 14 exhibition.

From 1989, they have lectured at various colleges in the United Kingdom, United States and Kosovo. In 1995, they set up the first photography department at the University of Tirana, Albania, and a photography department at Priština University in 2000.

A particularly significant experience for Meredith-Vula was a series of photographs in Kosovo showing haystacks built by Albanian farmers. The juxtaposition of their cosmopolitan art experience with their provincial origin, asking the question "What is art?", provided a resolution of the two:

Having studied art for many years and visited many galleries throughout the world I soon found that the context of a work of art played a major part on where it is placed. For all my research, it took my returning home to discover the real significance of my search, it was in the fields of my former home town that I witnessed a way of life as old as the land itself where farmers went about their business, everything had its place. Within all this I saw that somehow the farmers were unconsciously creating strange sculptures that had the presence of modern sculptural pieces. Here part of my search was over. I had found the meeting place between my new world of art, being an artist, and my past, in the landscape of Kosova.^[1]

They have also photographed women in Turkish baths over a two-year period (6 months of which was gaining permission), and a series showing women standing and moving beneath the surface of water. They explained this as:

"Women and Water" is about the beauty and imperfection of the free body underwater. Many women feel they have been deformed by social influences, particularly in the West. In the water they are free to dissolve and re-appear as a part of nature both classical and expressive.^[1]

Their work can be found in a range of major art collections including, but not limited to: Arts Council of Britain, Arthur Andersen Collection, Centre of Photography in Geneva, Collezione La Gaia, Doria Pamphilj Gallery Collection, Doria Pamphilj Palace Museum, Fondazione Teseco per l'Arte, The British Council Collection.

Lala has been photographing farmers' haystacks in Eastern Europe since 1989. An on-going series that has been exhibited at the Photographer's Gallery, London, Croatian Fine Art Society, Zagreb, Kosova Art Gallery, Kosova, documenta 14 in Kassel and Marubi Museum, Albania.^{[citation needed]}

Lala followed and photographed the Blood Feud Reconciliation movement in Kosova in 1990 and 1991 making a series of photographs shown in Kosova Art Gallery in 2015. They were a researcher on a BBC documentary film "Under the Sun" - Broadcast in 1992 on BBC 1.

• 2020 Short list for 2020 Shpilman International Prize for Excellence in Photography by the Israel Museum, Jerusalem.
• 2018 Nominated for the Deutsche Börse Foundation Photography Prize for the most significant contribution, through an exhibition, to photography in Europe in 2017.
• 2016 Nominated for the long list of the Deutsche Börse Foundation Photography Prize 2016 for solo exhibition Blood Memory at National Gallery of Kosovo, Pristina.
• 2006 Bryan Robertson Trust Artist Award.
• 2002 "Paul Hamlyn Award" nominee.
• 2001 Sargant Fellowship, British School at Rome (BSR), Italy.
• 1998 "Flash Art" Prize, Onufri '98, National Gallery, Albania.
• 1998 "Special Jury Prize", PhotoSynkria Festival, Greece.
• 1997 London Art Board's "Individual Artists Award".