A few moments from the installation of Alexia Seretidou’s art exhibition ‘Anthology’.
From today until July 7, we await you daily, from 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM, at the VITSENTZOS KORNAROS Shelter (V. Kornarou 97, Sitia).
Don’t miss it!
The exhibition ‘Anthology’ presents a collection of twenty works – wall compositions and installations – that attempt to convey the power and sensitivity of Greek poetry and selected literary excerpts into the realm of imagery. Through human figures originating from different places and cultures around the world, the universal character of the themes running through the texts is highlighted: love, loss, memory, expectation, and the search for identity.
The starting point of the work is an old photographic practice: the hand-coloring of black and white photographs, through which figures acquired new life and presence. In ‘Anthology’, the portrayal of faces and narratives is achieved through a material with distinct expressive power: handmade paper.
Handmade Asian papers from Japan, India, Thailand, Bhutan, and Nepal were used, coexisting with papers made in Crete from natural raw materials, such as leaves, mallow bark, and seaweed. Through their unique textures and qualities, the papers are transformed into garments, backdrops, and environments that embrace the characters of the works.
Surfaces are treated with ink, watercolor, pastel, hagiography paints, and natural dyes from Cretan nature, while techniques such as paper weaving and embroidery, cyanotype, gilding, and engraving are also utilized.
The exhibition is complemented by installations that function as small theatrical stages. Made from packaging materials, framing papers, and drawing papers, they convey excerpts from the literary narratives that inspired the works into the space.
‘Anthology’ is an attempt to read literature: where words acquire form, texture, and color, and poetry transforms into an image.