Invocation the next step
In collaboration with Joe Furlong and Zuza Tehanu
art installation
fabric, acrylic paint, a musician and a cello
Similar to our global habits of exploration, as we know more about the outer space than our won ocean; we as individuals tend to search and have more faith to an outer social and spiritual cosmotheory instead of our own internal universe.
In many cases strive to achieve external balance, such as accomplishments and success, contenting relationships, social approval and spiritual adherence, however internally we harvest a field of unrest, self-blame and inadequacy.
It’s irrelevant of how well we might be doing in our daily life as it will never be enough to satisfy our internal expectations, which can vary from person to person depending their upbringing, peer pressure, social expectations, trends, beliefs, religions etc. In many cases these feelings can become detrimental to one’s life.
This work is contemplating our own personal divinity and the beauty in embracing one’s inner daemons. It manifests the point of perfect harmony when we reveal and accept the simplicity of who we are.
Similar to a musician with its music instrument, we can only reach the crescendo of our own existence when we become one with what fears us the most, our own self.
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Utopia
thread, found objects, door looker
From the Heights of Despair, philosopher Cioran sees utopia as a monstrous fantasy; an ouroboros eating its tale. It is the achievement of happiness that creates an oxymoron with that of human nature. If utopia is the final stop of mankind’s journey, will the human condition be satisfied with its stillness when we reach it?
And yet we haven’t even looked at the notion of utopia “the eternal happiness” under a magnifying glass. For as utopia is the state of being amongst the perfect environment, given that to be social, ecological, spiritual and so forth; where happiness on the other hand it’s by far an individual and individualistic quest and for many, the means of achieving as such are blessed by the cause.
The sole fact that throughout our lives we are presented with more than one utopias, including our own version of it, alarmingly indicates its subversive and mischieving nature. At our core, most people believe we know how a better world would look like. Isn’t that scary and whimsical? for the simple reason of how many of us would be willing to compromise our own utopia to accommodate for others and share a vision…and let’s not even start about authorship in that eventuality. One would argue that the finest utopia of them all would be based on ethics, respect and peaceful consistence, unwarranted of laws or rules, aka anarchism in its core. What a beautiful vision that would have been if not for all its three components to be fundamentally idiosyncratic, empirical and given the power authoritarian. That subsequently leads to one’s utopia being another’s dystopia.
As George Orwell puts it: “Nearly all creators of Utopia have resembled the man who has a toothache, and therefore thinks happiness consists in not having a toothache…Whoever tries to imagine perfection simply reveals his own emptiness”
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The elegy of the lost I
Thread, oil paint, ink, fabric on canvas
The sexually frustrated gender, an androgynous vilified hero, a hysteric housewife, a sold soul, a tempered mind, the suppressed coward, the enslaved by desires, the escapist
And a crucifixion.
What we can all be, we still condemn.
‘The elegy of the lost I’ is a testimony to the martyrdom of the very need of belonging and assimilating to a social and norm-abiding identity. Whilst our post-modern way of living within a rapidly growing array of information and platforms of expression increasingly uncovers the complexity of identity and supports its multitude, we still cling on the classifications of the past to draw sense in our current socio-political realities.
As some pushing forwards towards a more liberal and equal social behaviours, other regress to archetypal social models which have lost their relevance to the contemporary realities and fortify themselves with them, to protect what they perceive as normality.
This regression is what maintains to the day social classifications and empowers social environments to define who we are and we should not be. A ‘framed’ crucifixion, the box one must fit in, the cross of taboo, is what many of us experience is silence.
This work is the testimony not for the ones who have found their voices but for the ones who still fight to belong.
 the elegy of the lost I |  paitning_soul_goodbye |
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 paitning_me |  painting_I Batman |
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 painting_pointless selfportrait 02 |  painting_pointless selfportrait 05 |
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Femininity and the one eyed monstress...
thread, cross stitching, fake eye.
This installation poses is a cluster of questions on femininity.
What is femininity? Is it a concept, an idea or/and a biological variable? Is it gender defined? Does it transmute depending on geographical locations, political and social circumstances and chronological periods? How has it been used?
The multifaceted character of femininity has changed and evolved over the years. From a tool of discrimination to a tool of empowerment, femininity plays an integral role in personal and cultural identity.
Nowadays, in many geographical locations, femininity is celebrated and has become a symbol of major changes in human relations. However, on the same note it is capitalised and, since antiquity, forced on females under different contexts and methods.
This work plays with symbols of ‘looks’, the status quo of the ‘One Eyed Monster’, oppressor and enemy and the fine lines between our struggle for equality and the danger of division, alienation and victimisation by our own stands.
In my grandmother’s times cross stitching, amongst other feminine trades, was an indication of domestic skills, meaning a good candidate for a successful married life.
Nowadays, especially in the western world, such concepts are almost obsolete; however different manifestations of such desired femininity have replaced them. Image, looks and behaviours have become trends and being capitalised in the name of femininity, feminism and the dominant female.
The struggle of equality has in many instances become a power struggle of who will prevail, dividing instead of creating a unified front against segregation, inequality and oppression.
This work is about questioning and examining first the trends we follow and the fights we support, in order to avoid being indoctrinated to just belonging and reducing battles, which were won with sacrifices, to self identifying stories.
Where I stand?
thread, acrylic, flags
How do human beings negotiate the spaces in which they live, work, and play?
“Spatial Behavior: A Geographic Perspective” by Golledge, Reginald G & Stimson, Robert J.
Negotiation and exchange of space, in both its physical or abstract notion is inextricably bound with the human existence. Humans and space share a constructive yet destructive relationship, in a state of constant flux; from monumental alterations of the natural space we inhabit and any consequences that might have, to daily mundane movements that result to micro-modification of the space we occupy within our natural environment and social geographies.
While we give meaning, change, adjust and reinvent space, it simultaneously defines our behaviour, identity, decision making and relations. However, what do we perceive as space? To quote G. W. Leibniz (polymath / scientist 15 th – 16 th century)
“I observe, that the traces of moveable bodies, which they leave sometimes upon the immoveable ones on which they are moved; have given men occasion to form in their imagination such an idea, as if some trace did still remain, even when there is nothing unmoved. But this is a mere ideal thing, and imports only, that if there was any unmoved thing there, the trace might be marked out upon it. And ’tis this analogy, which makes men fancy places, traces and spaces; though those things consist only in the truth of relations, and not at all in any absolute reality”. The Leibniz-Clarke Correspondence, V, p. 47
Within this “relationalism” between space and the notion of space, our emplacement inside it is ultimately fluid and spatial permanence becomes ostensible. This installation work attempts to capture the transience of this exchange between the space and the non-space us humans create, mark, claim and negotiate.
 femininity and the one eyes monstress7 |  femininity and the one eyes monstress13. |
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 where I stand |  where I stand |
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 where I stand |  where I stand |
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Counting Moments
public installation
thread, wood
Our social structures, the community clusters we belong to, the safety nets we have created around us, all have now been tested against the uncertainty of our own existence. During this world pandemic, what has been highlighted is how ephemeral our life is within the cosmos.
As a defense mechanism many of us retracted to living in the moment, one day at a time, in order to cope with the severity of the situation, the violent change of our lives and the ambiguity of our future.
The world has paused indefinitely and maybe for the first time we are left with ourselves, to learn to coexist with who we are and accept how insignificant our existence is to nature and yet so significant to the people around us.
It is more prominent now than ever to cherish the moments and find the real values in our lives, as all can cease in a heartbeat.
This work aims to highlight a great finding amidst this time of terror and distress. Time is elusive and while time is eternal, we are so temporary. The treads of our lives have woven beautiful social fabrics yet so fragile and unable to detain time. The precious moments we live are scatter like the sand grains in the wind, ever changing, always shifting and reform, one as unique as the other.
These are the components of our conscious existence, which we should learn to treasure and emerge full-heartily in them as “tomorrow comes today”. (Gorillaz)
 counting moments |  counting moments |
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Slow the much oil
thread, fabric, ink and pigments on recycled canvas and bicycle wheel
Through history to the present day a chandelier has been used as a symbol to demonstrate wealth and power.
However, this chandelier is made out of found and recycled materials and depicts images of a decline and distress of the modern times.
This work is aiming to raise questions about the relevance of values, beliefs and symbols we have inherited from our past to our contemporary life.
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 slow the much oil |  slow the much oil |
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 slow the much oil |  slow the much oil |
...and with the marks on my hands I will tell you my story...
thread, fabric and clay
Local traditions mark our identity as nations; folklore and rituals are carried in time, from tribe to tribe, from family to family, from person to person. Preserved to mark our passage through history, and have been challenged in time of conflict and through occupations, in order to dissolve national unity and strength.
In contemporary society, in our daily lives, little room is left to practice our ancestral customs, but traditions and rituals have become part of our museum attractions. Does conservation of the ‘Old Ways’ reflects their significance in our identity? Do we share the same identity with our ancestors or is the past just a mark of our existence in the passage of time?
Hajichi, a significant but now fading tradition of tattooing on the hands and arms of Okinawan women, recorded from the early years of the Ryukyu kingdom and officially banned in 1899 during the Meji era, is the subject of discussion for this work.
Marking the body, is a practice which has manifested in different continents from the early years of human existence but the Hajichi tradition poses a special interest not only due to its intriguing meaning, technique and beauty; but also due to the political and social affiliations this tradition bares.
 and with the marks on my hands I will te |  and witht the marks on my hands i will t |
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 and with the marks on my hands I will te |  and witht the marks on my hands i will t |
 and witht the marks on my hands i will t |  and witht the marks on my hands i will t |
 and witht the marks on my hands i will t |  and witht the marks on my hands i will t |
 and witht the marks on my hands i will t |  and witht the marks on my hands i will t |
 and witht the marks on my hands i will t |  and with the marks on my hands I will te |
 and with the marks on my hands I will te |
Poverous popuerta is growing fast...
thread, fabric, foam, plastic pots, paper cups foamboard
This work was crated for an exhibition in Berlin, Germany and it uses a metaphor to comment on the current economical issues, by transforming an everyday object used for decoration and environment optimization – such as a plant pot – into a manifestation of the growing global economical crisis.
The work is placed in the entrance of the space so the visitors have to walk in between the extended hands.
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In sickness and in Hell...
thread, fabric, pigments, foam on wooden frame
Fragile like a thread, the life of a child in an adult’s hands. A girl who is forced to become a woman overnight. Certain traditions and cultures continue to challenge our contemporary ethical codes. Tribes holding on to their customs, seeing it as the only way to preserve their cultural identities despite the evident damage they can cause.
Girls as young as 10 years old forced in to marriage with men more than twice their age; striped out from the innocence of their youth and been forced the maturity of their gender upon their child’s body.
This work portraits the decorated cocoon of a goddess trapped within a nuptial web, amputated, powerless, bearing her oppressors’ will as a crown.
The use of thread is an allegory to the Greek myth of the three ‘Moires’, one would unravel the tread of life, one would count it and the last would cut it. Countless lives, countless destinies of all colours and tastes, have been affected of what we call belief and religion, which have the power to unite, divide, create or erase tribes, nations and even continents.
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‘Home Sweet Home’
Thread, pins, boarding passes on pillow.
Moving away for home, immigration; for some a choice, a dream to follow and for others a vital need for survival, an escape.
A good night sleep comes when one is at ease and secure, an Asylum Seeker once told me. He recounted that he didn’t use a pillow to sleep for several months even after entering the UK, until the point he finally felt safe to allow him self to submerge in to slumber. This was a side effect of the situation he fled from, where falling in deep sleep and not be fast to react and escape, could have been lethal for him and his family.
‘Home Sweet Home’ represents the hostile environments that people encounter in their homelands and are forced to flee in separate paths, away from the comfort, warmth and security of their homes and loved ones.
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Invocation
in collaboration with artist Joe Furlong
thread, fabric, acrylics
This installation was created for the concert of IED DK, BlackMoon1348 UK in New River Studios.
A call to spirits and humans. We invoke through the senses and the two worlds collide.
They manifest and we embrace. Coexistence.
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