One characteristic evident in the work of Cypriot artist Yioula Hatzigeorgiou, is that she shifts from any kind of certainty, intrinsic and extrinsic, into a new and unknown “landscape”, made of familiar materials. As a whole, her raw materials are the most “humble” and natural: water, ash, salt, soap, wind, fabrics, sand, which have at times served her in this constant visual “play” of transforming tangible reality into a poetic action, a new symbolism. It is no coincidence that Hatzigeorgiou is a contemporary woman who carries within her the memories of her birthplace, Cyprus.
In her most recent volume of work, Hatzigeorgiou has used ash as her raw material, while another part of her work and jewellery is dedicated to the plaster strip, which is turned into an art object constituting a wearable “monument” of our wounds, but also of our precious human experience. As Hatzigeorgiou states: “Our wounds and scars are valuable. They are living proof of every human’s struggle for one’s values, idiosyncratic uniqueness and beliefs. Jean Genet calls them “our medals” – evidence of a past permeating the present. We choose to adorn our body with the experiences and memories that have shaped us as personalities. We project the wounds and scars as monuments of our individuality, which, at the sane time, also shape us as entities creating a fantastical community that unites people with common wounds, common experiences, a common life”.
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The artist Yioula Hatzigeorgiou was born in Paphos, Cyprus. She lives and works in Athens. She graduated with honours in Painting and Engraving from the Athens School of Fine Arts in 1999. She continued her postgraduate studies at the National Technical University of Athens. She has held several solo and group exhibitions in Greece and abroad. Her work and jewellery can be found at the Zoumboulakis Gallery (zoumboulakis.gr), at the Benaki Museum (benaki.org) and the concept store True Story Athens (Makriyianni 33, Athens).
