Some things are given to us by birth, and some are obtained. Motherland and nationality are few of those precious things that are flowing inside the veins. What can be obtained though - is love for a certain country: its language, history, culture, people etc. This love is usually born from knowledge: art, literature and some personal experience. But whatever deep and intensive this love is, it will always differ from the love that is flowing inside the blood, that is given for granted, that has roots for centuries, and makes the person feel things intuitively, without knowing or thinking. Love of the foreigner will always be less realistic and more romantic, fancied, idealized. And the Greek history has a very bright proof of that: the philhellenes.

 

All the above-mentioned thoughts laid down inside the concept for the art-project on the topic of Greek revolution in 1821.

 

Firstly, being a foreigner and tenderly loving Greece, I’ve obtained my own picture of Greek history, and the events of the 19th century in particular. Learning Greek history from the books, artworks, documentary and feature films, my mind and imagination have drawn the picture of Greece that might differ a lot from those of the native Greeks.

 

Secondly, as a woman I tried to feel a Greek woman of the 19th century: to recreate her world, her thoughts, her dreams and passions, her fears and worries, her hopes and losses. I was thinking of details that were surrounding and inspiring Greek woman every day, especially during the War for the liberty. Yes, there was a woman-warier that was fighting equally with man. But I wanted to show another woman – that had to stay home and take care of children, to support by waiting and to inspire by loving. She was also fighting, but in a different way. And she had her own weapon: witness, sacrifice, patience and beauty.

 

In the artworks I try to discover the world of Greek woman through the details: ornaments and embroidery, plant leafs, letters and maps, pieces of cloths and lace etc. These things, so fragile on the one hand, are so powerful on the other: they are time- and memory-keepers.

 

The project could be called “Through the eyes of the modern philhellene”, but it would sound too pathetic. I prefer it to be “Untitled” and to give a full freedom for interpretation to the viewer.