By Aaron Cordy
INSPIRATION takes hold in many forms, and a passion for drawing, painting, and creating can lead people on an incredible journey.
Amy Meka’s passion for art came out in portraits of her friends, popstars, and her passion for her Albanian heritage with her painting of Skanderbeg. But it was Amy’s love of motorsport, instilled by her father Neil, which inspired her unique style that is getting Amy noticed around the world with her paintings of Formula One drivers.
“I grew up around motorsport in general. My dad was a big stickler on motorsport and absolutely loved it. And growing up, I was always around cars,” said Amy.
“After the Monza Grand Prix in 2021, I decided to paint the Daniel Ricciardo painting, and he ended up acknowledging it on social media. My dad was like, ‘Oh, these drivers, they’ll never see anything at all of this.’ I was like, I’m gonna try it. I just did it for fun. I had a lot of artworks in the past where I couldn’t really figure out my style, and then I tried that, and like, okay, colours pop, and all of a sudden, Daniel puts it on his social media. I’m like, Okay, I guess these drivers did see it.”
From there, Amy continued to express her love for Formula One through her art.
“From there, I think I painted the Carlos Sainz painting. And then Lewis Hamilton, Pierre Gasly, etc, etc. I took a poster version of it to the 2022 Grand Prix just on a whim to see if I could get any signatures. Sure enough, I got the poster version of Carlos signed, just hanging over a fence.
“So, the following year, I went with my sister, and I took a whole big bag with four different paintings, which were the Lewis, Daniel Ricciardo, Carlos and Pierre paintings. I got Carlos Sainz and Pierre signed that day, and I had Lewis Hamilton and Daniel Ricciardo post it on their social media that day as well. I went home to my dad, and I said, ‘See, I can get the drivers to do signatures on the artwork.'”
Family has been a massive influence on Amy’s pursuit of her dreams. Her grandfathers, Muharrem Yze and Fezi’ Johny’ Meka, were both heavily influential in her life. Local Fezi taught her to humbly pursue her passions. Muharrem, an artist in Albania imprisoned under communist rule, was forced to paint patriotic images over the cell walls that can still be seen today.
“I have to say a little bit of a thank you to my family and friends as well because they’ve steadfast my way into believing in me and trusting my work, and they knew I always had it in me to push my art. I truly cannot thank my family enough, especially my mum, Eriona, my siblings, and my partner. They’re all just very helpful in ensuring that I keep on it and make sure that the work stands out to the world, not just to my bedroom.”
Though she is far from done painting drivers, you can see Amy Meka’s incredible Formula One paintings at the MOVE museum. To purchase one of her original works or a print, phone 0417557939 or email amymekart@gmail.com
