Lokja

National Gallery of Arts, Albania

Year: 1983
Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: 109 × 95.5 cm
Artist: Agim Zajmi

This painting depicts Lokja, an emblematic maternal figure from the Rugova and Pejë regions of Kosovo. Seated on the doorstep of her home, the mother holds her infant on her lap in a scene that combines intimacy with quiet strength.

Behind her, a red door carved with the Albanian eagle reinforces the work’s symbolic and cultural identity. The stone walls root the composition in traditional architecture, while sewing tools placed to the right evoke domestic life and motherhood.

A rifle resting on her knees introduces a silent tension between care and protection. The red sky visible on the right side of the painting suggests struggle and endurance in the fight for survival and continuity.

Wearing the traditional white headscarf, the mother nurses her child while gazing toward the horizon. Painted in oil on canvas with expressive intensity, the work unites themes of motherhood, resistance, and hope, offering a powerful image of transmission and resilience.