Cheimadia (2021)

Microcommission for Ruya Maps.

In Cheimadia Alkmini Gkousiari proposes a piece of work that can be worn; as the artist carries Athens with her from afar she wished to make a piece that she could take with her in different locations that have glimpses of her city. She has said that the piece was made during the overwintering of 2020 as an attempt to remember and to identify with an identity that is drifting away.

The piece consists of an armour made out of clay that resembles an ancient perfume bottle in the form of a kneeling athlete, ca. 540 BCE, that was found in the ancient Agora of Athens. Gkousiari casted parts of her body and then made reliefs of them in clay before firing and glazing them. The ceramic parts could then be assembled like a costume by attaching them to the body with string. The work then came full cycle with the artist interacting with the armour by wearing it in a performance based on the sculpture of the kneeling athlete.

The resulting image series suggests a Greek sculpture out of place, that has been forgotten like the ruins that are present as you walk around the streets of Athens. The final piece shows a body on a body, layer after layer like the city of Athens which has developed by being built on top of itself. To the artist this process creates a feeling of ‘‘unspoken heaviness’’ that Cheimadia stands to document.

Alkmini Gkousiari has produced a text to accompany the piece which is available here in English and Greek.