A collaboration project between a Visual Artist and a Physiotherapist dedicated to our loved ones who have gone / are going through Alzheimer’s. It is an artistic representation of what dementia patients going through based on events experienced through our lives as caretakers.
“Grey Area” is inspired by Richard McDonald’s Duality Two Thirds Life (2017). The concept of duality represents a principle that is fundamental to art across all time periods and cultures—it is the timeless paradox that opposites exist in harmony and interdependence with one another. Light and dark, day and night, male and female. These contrasting forces not only coexist but also define one another. Without darkness, we would not understand light; without silence, we would not value sound. Another dominant influence in my project was the contrasts that Marlene Dumas introduces into her art. She often explores oppositions like love and death, beauty and horror, innocence and guilt, or intimacy and violence. Her figures live in that tension.
Based on these, I portrayed a similar composition and introduced different elements to express the theme of duality from my own perspective. I explored the binary of light and dark that exists within each of us, highlighting the constant inner tension between opposing forces. Each spectator becomes a part of the piece through the mirrored surfaces. These reflective elements allow viewers to see themselves, transforming from passive observers to active participants—the protagonists of the work. In this way, the piece becomes personal and introspective. Also, it raises the question of whether there is a “ Grey Area” between ethical and unethical and whatever is hidden in the dark or out accepted by others.
The work submitted was created as a final project in the Painting course (Prof. Effie Halivopoulou) and is meant to emulate my personality, through creating a painted collage. The main goal of this work was to combine physical places in which I feel most creative -the beach and my desk- along with incorporating relevant elements, such as brushes, palettes, and my beach bag. I consciously chose to keep the visual elements of the work flat and reminiscent of cartoons and comic books, inspired by many artists such as Matisse and Lichtenstein, instead of opting for a photorealistic approach.
I began with a cool-toned blue underpainting to break from my usual warm palette, aiming for brighter colors. Using burnt sienna, I sketched the figure and built layers, mixing skin tones directly on canvas with wet-on-wet techniques. I painted the background and clothing in multiple coats, experimenting with ultramarine and violet for depth. I used black pigment for the first time in years, which felt liberating. Inspired by Alice Neel and Alpay Efe, I exaggerated facial features and layered tonal values. This painting helped me grow, combining familiar methods with new techniques and boosting my confidence with a new color palette.
This is a self portrait in acrylic paints. It shows a close-up of my face, the face of the artist, looking up, optimistically but also melancholically. The picture is surrounded and even choked in a way, by a past work of mine, “The Mind”, which is a soft, wearable sculpture. The result portrays my suppressed feelings, desires and fears.
The Balloon explores the emotional opposition between anxiety and calmness through a soft sculpture composed of denim, plaster bandage, and cement. Inspired by the fragility of balloons, this piece reimagines the playful form as a metaphor for emotional vulnerability. The use of contrasting materials of soft fabrics, juxtaposed with the rigidity of cement, embodies the tension between different inner states. By combining unrelated textures and forms, the sculpture presents a unified yet conflicted object, reflecting the unpredictable, transient nature of emotional states.
What should you wear to go sailing? In this installation, I suggest a new uniform
for sailing by presenting a series of outerwear, crafted out of sails and other
materials sourced from “Alter Ego”, my grandfather’s sailing yacht. Inspired by the
mise-en-scène of a sailboat, the work appears as a series of hybrids between
space, sculpture and garment that negotiate form, materiality, utility, and status.
What kind of self is stitched into these materials?
The sculpture Moss is a soft sculpture carpet which weaved with yarns to mimic the feature of nature. The intention of creating the Moss Carpet is to interact within the natural environment, meanwhile attach to the physical surroundings. The carpet is weaved with various yarns, in differing color and texture, which combined together presenting the organic form of moss and natural fibers. The sculpture represents the combination of the tradition technique in weaving and the fragility of nature, while conveying the feminine quality associated with the fabric sculpture. Psychologically, the work evokes a sense of curiosity and intimacy. The nature quality of the softness and warmth in yarn invites engagements mentally, makes the viewer want to touch and feel the piece.
This is a portrait of my Grandfather, surrounded by different kind of fruits representatives of his garden and symbols to our connection and his own life and persona.
I wanted to use color as a temporal element. The subject’s body is colorless underlying the temporality of human flesh. However, the eyes remain colorful and detailed ,conveying “ the mirror to his soul” with all the burdens , the happiness and the nostalgia of an entire life.
The oil branch on the right is the symbol of Crete , where he was born and raised . It is also translated as peace, justice that he achieved after the unfortunate early years of his past . On the other side, the pomegranate tree symbolizes those hardships of war ,neglect and abuse. The rotten fruit seem to "stain" him still .On the top, figs and grapes represent , knowledge and transformation, because he was forced to take the responsibility to “raise himself“ without absorbing the corruption of the abusive years in orphanage.
His garden is located in “Οδός Ονείρων”( ‘Street of dreams’) –he, himself named that street- . And apart for being symbols ,the fruits also highlight our relationship; since I can remember myself ,I was spending my summer days watching him growing his garden and me with love. A simple, grounding love that offered me these mental images to cherish forever.
The work submitted was created as a midterm project in the Sculpture II (Prof. Irini Miga) course and is inspired by the principles of the Arte Povera movement, meant to reflect on current sociopolitical issues. I chose to deal with the Tempe train crash, creating my sculpture as a tribute to the 57 lives lost in the collision and as my way of dealing with the tragedy. Taking inspiration from the movement’s core principles, I used found materials relating to the concept, such as gauze, newspaper clippings -57 to be exact, one for each victim- charred fabric scraps and, most importantly, cement.
