29 PLOES: Cities of Men
Petros & Marika Kydoniefs Foundation
Epar.Od. Androu-Limani Gavriou 102
Chora Andros, Andros, Greece
29 July – 01 October 2023
Kalliopi Lemos participates in the group exhibition “29 PLOES: Cities of Men” (tr. 29 ΠΛΟΕΣ: Ανθρώπων Άστεα), curated by critic and art historian Athena Schina, at the Petros and Marika Kydoniefs Foundation in the Greek Cycladic island of Andros, from the 29th of July until the 1st of October 2023.
Kalliopi Lemos will present her sculptural installation ‘Boats Full of Secrets’ (2008), that was first presented in 2011 at the exhibition trilogy ‘Navigating in the Dark’, inside the ancient Ibrahim Khan Mosque on the island of Crete in Greece.
For the artist, boats have always been an important and recurring symbol, signifying a container, from the womb to the coffin, that takes us to the ultimate passage into another life.
Here, these black vessels, carved out of tulipwood, are placed standing upright connecting the Earth with the spiritual world. With their dark exteriors refusing access to their pale interior slots, the boats withhold secrets of human longing, hardships and desire.
For its 29th edition, the exhibition will present works by contemporary Greek artists who explore the meaning of the word “city” not as a designated neighborhood, but rather as a complex of activities and imprints of its inhabitants.
How is the collective unconscious shaped and how do cultural attitudes affect people’s everyday lives? Starting from the original verses of Homer’s epic poem The Odyssey, the exhibition attempts to spark conversation between the visitors and the artworks, through a variety of media, such as paintings, sculptures, prints and installations.
Through the exhibition catalogue, visitors will have a chance to browse more artworks by Kalliopi Lemos that deal with the challenges of life, the passages through precarious conditions and the violation of human rights.
The sculpture Odysseus’s Boat (2011), with the Heads made of salt, was firstly presented at the Navigating in the Dark Part II in Crete in 2011. In 2013, Kalliopi Lemos presented this work at the Byzantine & Christian Museum in Athens, to commemorate the Danish existential philosopher Søren Kierkegaard.
These salt heads, with their distorted expressions of pain and agony, encapsulate the experience of the journey and what remains from it. They reflect the achievement of reaching one’s destination with the wealth of the gained insights, that shape each person’s individuality.
