In the early nineties I began to use photography as an artistic medium. I first
concentrated on portraits with strong atmospheric lighting, working mostly in
black and white, in a controlled studio environment. In these works I questioned
the camera/ subject the relation, the subject / photographer dialogue, the subject
/ viewer connection, the photographer / audience "relationship", challenging
conventional modes of making and interpretation.
Over the years my approach to the medium evolved, I began to feel restricted by the two dimensionality of photography. In the mid-nineties, I started to create three-dimensional pieces. In these artworks my photographs interact with other media: the pictures and the 3D structure encapsulating them complements each other.
In these works I seek to develop the genre both as an emotional expressive form and as a sophisticated visual language in which the very methods through which the pieces are constructed form part of their meaning (I use metal, wood, glass, mirror....). My themes embrace subjects such as: Sexual abjection (rape / abortion), Emotional queries (sadness/ loneliness/ fears/ paranoia), Psychosexual issues (exhibitionism / voyeurism), Self-analysis.
At the end of the nineties I began to experiment more with installations and the use of the space they evolved from. I am one of 5 members of an art group, named Luna Nera. Together we occupy historical empty building where we initiate site-specific events.
By choosing to use old / disused building of historic importance, I address a series of issues.
I question the changes in social and economical needs. Although traces do not usually remain, it is possible to find old, derelict cinemas, theatres, music halls... abandoned, forgotten for new, high-tech buildings in another recently developed area.
By focussing my attention on these buildings I aim to highlight these changes, reminding a generation that knew the space in its original use as well as showing a new generation its heritage. So to say engendering a rehabilitation of the site in question as well as highlighting its historic usage.
This concept of time-space is also an allegory for our own lives and their ephemeral essence. Mankind has always tried to build structures that will perpetuate and glorify them in a desperate exigency of eternity.
I express this meditation on the time-space dilemma by generating and participating in site-specific group shows. I do not restrict my practice to a certain type of media and can decide to use any material. This choice of medium is often dictated by the space itself.
In the past I have used video, photographs, found objects, paint, and fire. My work can take the form of a site-specific installation, of a video, photographs, of a sculpture or a new media production or a combination of the above. Whichever media is used, the final product is based on the space and/ or its past use.
In my installations I find that the process, the action becomes as important as the finished product. And that it dictates its form. The meaning of the work rests not necessarily within itself but in the context in from which it evolved.
Although I have a well defined and established theory behind my work, my working practice remains a spontaneous reaction to the environment from which it evolves. The space dictates the piece I will produce and interact with it.
I find that working collectively on a site, although each practitioner create its own work, provides a rich synthesis of concepts and inspirations.
This notion of interaction is not only present between the creator and the building but also between each practitioner and finally between the work and the audience.
The sheer diversity of media used at these events - from live art to video via photography and sounds - and the attitude adopted by their creators engenders an informal atmosphere in which the audience can explore and discover far from the habitual formality and austerity of art galleries and museums.
I believe that placing the public in a non-gallery environment desecrates the accepted notion of art and thus destroys its timelessness and superiority, facilitating its absorption.
The use of deserted spaces and the replacement of the cold sterile frame of the gallery "befriends" the visitors and provides them with a more "mortal" experience they can relate to.
I wish to break the common unconscious expectation and preconception that if a piece of work is not in a gallery or a museum it must be worthless and unimportant.