Alije Vokshi was born in Prishtina, Kosovo in 1945. She studied painting at the Academy of Figurative Arts in Belgrade, Serbia, becoming the first academically trained woman painter in Kosovo in 1968.
In a sociopolitical context where few women had the opportunity to pursue higher education, especially in the arts, Vokshi became a trailblazer within Kosovo’s art scene. Regardless of the expectations to perform the conventional role of a woman in the society, Vokshi pushed for an equal precedence of her artistic practice. Dedicated to further forge her career as a painter in a male dominated scene, in 1981 she moved to Paris for a year to attend a specialization program at the Académie de la Grande Chaumière, subsequently moving back to Belgrade to obtain her masters degree. Steeped in a patriarchal art system which marginalized women, Vokshi is an example of perseverance and one of the most prolific artists of her time.