The Kitchen, 2017
The Kitchen, 2017
Earth, sky, skin, 2020
This continuing series of silicone paintings is an attempt to explore the history of the self through the spectrum of materiality. These artworks combine synthetic and organic materials which can either co-exist within harmony or extreme contrast. This results in ambiguous textile-like surfaces stitched around metal frames with copper wire, placing these paintings within three dimensions.
These artworks can initially be encountered as aesthetic objects, focusing on their ambiguous textured layers which combine elements that hover between the familiar and the estranged. These surfaces act as snapshots of hazy memories, providing a glimpse of one's history through a tactile medium.
Earthy, Fleshy and Cloudy, 2019, part of group exhibition at The O Gallery, Larnaca, Cyprus.
December 2020 - January 2021
https://www.the-ogallery.com/artist/despina-petridou/
Dough Fringe 2, 2020
Dough Fringe 2 belongs to a series of artworks dealing with the re-interpretation of the domestic space, based on my experiential understanding of it as a woman growing up in Cyprus. Relevant research focuses on traditional processes, objects and materials linked to the female presence within the home. The de-contextualisation of these methods develops more neutralised relationships with them, allowing critical consideration of the conditions in which skills are acquired, taught, and applied within the domestic space. The notions of repetitiveness and routine manifest within Dough Fringe 2, reflecting interpretations of reproductive work sustaining domesticity. The organic nature of the work, both in terms of aesthetics and materiality, embodies a range of intersecting histories within a contested space, mingling ideas of labour, time, personal ritual, and hand intuition.
Dough Fringe 2, 2020, part of group exhibition 'Seeking Roots,' at NiMAC (Nicosia Municipal Arts Center)
March - April 2021
Curator | Ioulita Toumazi
https://nimac.org.cy/seeking-roots/