gnorimeet the locals "Fjorida Cenaj"
ARRA performance
Fiorinta Cenai was born in 1997 in Lushnjë, Albania. At a young age, she migrated with her family to Greece. Growing up, she felt a strong need to express herself through the arts and went on to study film directing in Athens. Her work combines visual arts with speech and movement — the body. She draws inspiration mainly from her everyday experiences and is interested in social issues, the concept of identity (migration and gender), and mental health topics. She believes deeply in collectives, teamwork, and the positive impact they can have on society.
Artist’s note:
The performance “ARRA” took place in the station’s exhibition space on June 4. It all started quietly. The work itself could be heard: the cracking of walnuts. Alone in the empty space, I cracked walnuts with a small hammer; next to me, a bag of walnuts and a small aluminum tray where I placed the cleaned ones.
The space soon filled with visitors who stood around at a distance, watching me. Opposite me, I had placed a heavy metal hammer and a wooden base. Gradually, people began to come closer; some (both familiar and unfamiliar) used the big hammer to crack walnuts with me. This was the beginning of the audience’s participation.
Suddenly, without realizing it, the room was full of people next to me — some standing, others sitting on the floor. The very idea of the work was shaped by the participants, especially women from the Albanian community of the city. They visited the performance and joined in. They had the idea to enrich the space with rugs and mats from their homes. They also brought their own hammers because the one hammer I had originally set out was not enough.
Ten people sitting on the floor created an image of an Albanian home as I remember it, now captured in an exhibition space. Stories were shared in Albanian and Greek while we chewed walnuts. The performance lasted about six hours. During this time, people of all ages — from children to the elderly, from various nationalities — cracked walnuts with me. Others simply stood by, listening to the sound of cracking shells mixed with voices and laughter; there were also moments of emotion and nostalgia.
I will remember that day for as long as I live. As an artist, I had never tried something like this before. This safe space allowed me to express something so personal. Two large bags of walnuts traveled from Albania to meet the needs of this performance. A performance about migration and the highlighting of a community whose stories often remain hidden in a small city like Elefsina. The idea of capturing collective memory created new memories for the participants and for me through a simple act: cracking walnuts together.