In my paintings, I render in colour the stories of the physical and emotional landscapes that formed my experience of being born in Greece and then growing up in England and Cyprus.
The actual process of my painting relates to this theme, as I use mixed media, building up and scraping back areas of paint to capture the atmosphere, mass, and light of the landscapes I am trying to represent. In my series ‘The Gloaming,’ I explore ways of bringing these landscapes together and play with the similarities and contrasts: How being caught between two time perspectives – the Eastern Mediterranean is two hours ahead of England – two different kinds of light, two different cultures, results in both a feeling of richness and diversity of experience as well as a search for rootedness in the moment and in space.
Dusk and the changes in light between sunset and darkness, capture this feeling of ‘homelessness’ and search for ‘home.’
My latest series, "Dowry" is inspired by the doilies my grandmother would spend her days making, a tradition in Cyprus, passed down through the generations and what is given to the women when they marry as their dowry. In contrast I embedded these into cement, what might be seen as a more male and functional material. Working with it, waxing, smoothing and polishing it can bring out its beauty. |
