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In(de)finite Selfhoods

In(de)finite
Selfhoods
Group exhibition
June 4 - July 18, 2022
Poros

Chiderah Bosah Samuel
Panos Charalampous
Léllé Demertzi
Nicole Economides
Panos Famelis
Courage K. Hunke
Cédric Kouamé
Alekos Kyrarinis
Ebenezer Nana Bruce
Dessislava Terzieva
Adonis Volanakis
Emmanuel Kwaku Yaro

The swift progress of technology as a trademark of our time has gone beyond facilitating communication to a de facto abolishment of borders and the annihilation of distances. Ideas, people and goods, tangible or intangible, travel freely and bring closer together all of humankind's aspects and traditions.

At the other end of this leveling -globalizing- development, individual places put up their defense. They act variously with resistance in an attempt to preserve traditions, identities and the systems of values which have marked and determined the major or latent histories of each region.

It is this spirit, this differentiated view of the world that CITRONNE Gallery wishes to showcase. The exhibition "Proximities and Distances" brings onto the artistic scene a multiple reading of the world. The continents are distinct but come together in the context of art—which, in any case, transcends by definition the perceptible world.

In the works on show visitors can observe these 'local' viewpoints. The works span within a broad spectrum, from a figurative to an abstractive approach to History and its interpretation. The selective images of the artists feature the memories of place, either as origins and distant references or as continuous experiences.

The curator of the show L. Demertzi notes “Uniting the local and the global, identity emerges as a palimpsest of both worlds, inhabiting their in-between space. It is proposed that identity is constantly in flux, shaping and being shaped by our positioning within the world. Aspiring to decipher the realms of our contemporary “glocal” collectivity, the exhibition assembles artworks in a variety of media spanning from painting to photography and installations, emphasizes on the resonances of experience, and celebrates the divergences and dissents of different cultures, geographical locations, singularities, and artistic practices.

The coexistence of these works does not necessarily create a synthesis. What it does generate is the strong and clear impression of a world in which the artistic gaze has the license and the power to synthesize the present without betraying the past; to unify space without erasing its special character.

Artworks

Epigrafomena at the Archaeological Museum of Poros

Panos
Charalampous
Epigrafomena at the Archaeological Museum of Poros
May 27 - October 31, 2022
Poros
View artist's page

This year’s cooperation of CITRONNE Gallery with the Archaeological Museum of Poros focuses on and refers to the memory of the in-scription, through the eyes of artist Panos Charalambous. Throughout the centuries, in-scriptions have always constituted a solid reflection of personal and collective human memory; from the written laws of the Republic, the epitaphs and the votive offerings to the Oracles of Classical Antiquity to medal engraving and the names on tombstones of our era.

Artist Panos Charalambous uses tobacco leaves as his engraving surface. This fragile raw material, in sheer contrast with the resilient materials of the Antiquity, produces inscriptions which are fluid, fleeting, perishable and stillborn. The current reality does not leave much room for permanence and eternity as regards speech – the same applies to the persons inscribed. The ever-quickening pace of history is not subject to permanent references. Thus, the inscriptions on the tobacco leaves are devoid of longevity and act in a mandatory and temporary topicality.

At the same time, however, perhaps as a counterweight, the artist reminds us of the continuation, the durability: he makes an intentional reference to the traditional cultivation of tobacco and its products, which have left their cultural mark on the everyday life of not just the Greeks.
"Inscriptions" generate a functional archive of our memory and of the ephemerality of our era, whose elements look more like "words in the wind" than "a possession for all time”.

Tatiana Spinari-Pollalis
Ph.D. (Art History) - Citronne Gallery, Director

This year, Panos Charalambous’ temporary exhibition entitled “Inscriptions” (or Epigrafomena) is hosted at the Archaeological Museum of Poros in the context of the events organised by the Hellenic Ministry of Culture and Sports for International Museum Day. This exhibition, organized in association with Citronne Gallery, comprises a group of artworks which feature writing elements on surfaces made of tobacco leaves.
The names of prominent people, mainly artists and writers, have been inscribed on a delicate plant matter, namely a substrate of tobacco, as a reference to the perishability of the earthly world. Charalambous’ works are exhibited in contrast with the ancient inscriptions on display at the Museum of Poros, which, in turn, feature the names of people who claim their place in an illusion of eternity through their tombstones, their votive offerings to the gods or as benefactors honoured by their city. Nonetheless, while those people of the Antiquity chose to carve their names on solid stone surfaces which remained unchanged over time, in the works of Charalambous, the importance of key exponents of modern culture is valued on ephemeral organic materials and is measured against the fragility of human nature.

Maria Giannopoulou Ph.D. (Archaeology) - Ephorate of Antiquities of Piraeus and the Islands

Artworks