” Xoblia silk series”
On the occasion of the call of the art exhibition ”Xoblia” orchestrated by Iris Kritikou, that took place in the National Historical Museum of Athens on 2019, i welcomed the element of traditional embroidery in my work, only twisted. The Mission of the selected Greek artists of this exhibition, was to create, by being inspired of the folklore tradition and costume of the National Historical Museum Of Athens and what is more to be exhibited inside the actual showcases of the museum , together with the original costumes and objects over tha past centuries!What an honor!
Tradition looks like a vein that inadvertently hits memoirs, even through the collective subconscious, passed on to the next generations as another ”ornament” of knowledge, as a sort of mental Clothing.
The past, sown my small or large births, sometimes embroidered with pain,sometimes joyfully burts, and you can hear and interpret its echoes voluntarily. A traditional embroidery of the island of Ios of the last century was my source of inspiration in order to create my designs for the exhibition. An embroidery which i interpreted digitally and was made exactly like an embroidery one by one by: pears, aspirins, naphthalene , a human figure , elemens of the nature and bubble wrap. The symbolic interpretation of the pearl, stands for the timeless element of elegance over the centuries. The aspirin symbolizes the timelessness of inevitable human pain and the naphthalene or the aromatic hydrocarbon it is used symbolically too, to manifest the preservation of the garment from the ”ejection” of the space-time. The bubble wrap ,used only in one composition as a background element, is connected with all previous ”building materials” in terms of shape, complementing conceptually how fragile we are. (there is round shape in every element, and on this concept was based the structure of my idea). The human figure ,and the elements of the nature weave an interdependent tissue that must function well if we want future generations and nature, coexist armoniously with each other.
I feel very close to this particular work so i decided to make a self portrait photo shoot. Interpreted myself as a sort of sticker that can easily navigate into inside and outside landscapes or maybe time , as a whole ,multiplied or even fragmented. Τhe ”smoke” female figure in the background of my silk canvas, is a woman i share the same name with ”Loula”. A woman that my mother haven’t had the chance to meet. My grandmother. A mysterious figure in my eyes in terms of beautiful stories narrated from people who had the chance to meet her . I had to have a story to narrate myself…even a visual one…<3
