SYMBIOSIS
2018-19
“Living alone in a cosmos which is not that of his childhood, man must cultivate courage in order to confront a world that is harsh, indigent and cold.” Gaston Bachelard
Steel and wood, duration and mortality, strength and sensitivity, rigidness and plasticity: these opposites define our life and our relation to the urban environment; are manifested through the materials and forms of this collection of sculptures made for body and space.
The word “symbiosis” conveys rather accurately their relationship to the wall, to your body. Interdependence, coupling or interaction could do as well to describe the attempt of two distinct organisms to “support” one another for survival.
These interdependent entities – human and society or body and space – are defined by a relation of protection and conflict, care and oppression, movement and stillness. They intersect, exchange information and influence one another.
“Τhe environment shapes people’s actions”. B.F Skinner
In times of recession, life in Greece doesn’t allow for a moment at ease. You must constantly stay alert to confront not only the adversities of life, but also the absurd obstacles that keep on coming up. This way of life keeps you sharp, flexible and inventive, but also wears you out. On a daily basis, you are struggling, both inside you and around you, to balance contradictions. The imperative to meet and deal with oneself can exhaust you. Strengths and weaknesses clash. Oh, let me have a moment of weakness!
The jewelry pieces serve as Janus-like metaphors deployed in a universe where everything is activated by the accumulation of contradictions. They stand for human weakness, mortality and a rigid society which is sentimentally incapable of supporting its children. The fragility of wood signals a moment of weakness; and the inevitability of old age. Steel expresses power, toughness and endurance, as well as the inflexibility of a rational society.
Resisting the glorious beauty which traditionally characterizes jewelry, I create sculptures for body and space. The materials I select mostly belong to industrial practices. The jewelry is chunky, rough, awkward – as if questioning its own nature.
