I believe in the importance of art as a universal language. Art depends on our ability to perceive things beyond boundaries. In that way, it becomes a device for thinking about our world in perpetual fluidity, where information can be read in different ways, raising new questions and allowing unexpected discoveries.
I grew up in Greece, a country on the line between the perceived East and West, where the distant past, present and desired future coexist; so seeing things through a prism of constant symbiosis became a norm early on. As a female artist living and working between the United States and Greece, I find myself at times caught in the dichotomy that is created by opposing values. I find humble, anti-monumental gestures and giving value to the minor and otherwise neglected of immense importance.
In my practice, I create constellations of humble gestures that call for close examination. I ascribe value to the neglected, which becomes of great significance. Marks of performative actions and leftover traces become part of my spatial vocabulary, in which the marking of time is revealed. I believe in art that demands awareness of space and time, where the personal touches the common, where noise shifts recognizability and silent moments take off. By examining the way that we navigate and perceive our environments, today and in the past, my work engages with the memory of place from the point of origin to the present. This manifests as reconstructions of sites and objects of personal significance – and not only. I am particularly fascinated with the language of objects that surround our everyday reality; the dialogues and shifting relationships of axes such as physical and mental space, form and utility, sculpture and painting. I look at the point where sculpture touches painterly nuances as an unfolding sketchbook of our everyday reality in physical space. For me, the concept, the materials, along with the color that will activate the works and their surroundings are of equal importance. In that way, the work engages with its surroundings in a cohesive way, as a painting engages with its canvas or a drawing with its paper.
I use basic sculptural materials like clay, wood, plaster, found and custom-made objects juxtaposed with everyday ephemera like paper, dust, and metal rods. I am enchanted by clay—its natural malleability, its capacity to hold time within its essence, and its power to connect me with the history of my country. I meticulously hand-build all my clay works, continually pushing the ability of my materials to create rhythms of frequency and movement across both physical and mental space. I am always looking for the things that we discover after our eyes adjust to the subversion of expectations.
My references abound: they range from greek archeological excavation sites, construction sites, google photos, personal places, DIY YouTube videos, and literature, in particular, the magical realism of Warsan Shire, Mikhail Bulgakov, Etgar Keret and Jorge Luis Borges.
