Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva An Intimate Gaze |
Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva
Beauty Exposed II 2016 |
14 January - 11 February 2017 |
For her first solo exhibition at the gallery, Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva combines new works and recent pieces from the series Making Beauty shown at the University of Nottingham, Djanogly Gallery, in 2016. By courageously looking, we defiantly declared:
‘Not only will I stare, I want my look to change reality.’ Even in the
worse circumstances of domination, the ability to manipulate one’s gaze
in the face of structures of domination that would contain it, opens
up the possibility of agency. In much of his work, Michel Foucault insists
on describing domination in terms of ‘relations of power’ as part of
an effort to challenge the assumption that ‘power is a system of domination
which controls everything and which leaves no room for freedom.’ Emphatically
stating that in all relations of power ‘there is necessarily the possibility
of resistance’, he invites the critical thinker to search those margins,
gaps, and locations on and through the body where agency can be found.
Through her practice Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva brings the inside of living bodies under the viewer’s gaze, thus diverting our attention and questioning the hierarchy of appearances and beauty. Making use of animal material, the work reflects on death and aestheticization of life suggesting a transformation of the living towards landscape. From abstract patterns inherently present within nature and the organic realm, light filters and draws upon matter and space. Here, the sculptural gesture brings fragility and permanence together towards a certain unity of the physical body, the spiritual inhabitant and its environment. The installation re-connects beings and matter through a reflection on power and balancing forces, pushing us to experience the work beyond its physical properties and boundaries, to look courageously at our essential weakness and ephemerality. Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva is a site-specific installation artist working across the varied media of sculpture, installation, video and sound, photography and architectural interventions. Her materials range from the unusual to the ordinary and the ephemeral to the precious; they include organic materials, foodstuffs and precious metals. Central to her practice is a response to the particularities of place; its history, locale, environment and communities. Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva presented Haruspex commissioned by the Vatican, as part of the Pavilion of the Holy See, at the 56th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia. Recent exhibitions include: Making Beauty, Djanogly Gallery, Nottingham (2016); Haruspex, Pavilion of the Holy See, 56th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia, Venice (2015); Fragility, Fabrica, Brighton (2015); Silentio Pathologia, Pavilion of the Republic of Macedonia, 55th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia, Venice (2013). An accompanying essay by Richard Davey, writer and visiting fellow at NTU School of Art and Design, will be available as part of the exhibition. |
Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva An Intimate Gaze installation view by Oskar Proctor |
Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva
Reoccurring Undulation 2011 |
Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva
Ladies Purses 1-4 2011 |
Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva
Ladies Purses 1-4 2011 |
Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva
Ladies Purses 1-4 2011 |
Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva
Ladies Purses 1-4 2011 |
Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva
Ladies Purses 1-4 2011 |
Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva An Intimate Gaze installation view by Oskar Proctor |
Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva
Beauty Exposed II 2016 |
Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva An Intimate Gaze installation view by Oskar Proctor |
Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva
Beauty Exposed III 2016 |
Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva
Beauty Exposed III 2016 |
Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva
Bibles I-IV 2016 |
Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva An Intimate Gaze installation view by Oskar Proctor |
Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva
Bad Hair Day 2008 |
Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva
Carapace of Beauty 2016 |
Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva
Gill’s Slits 2011 |
Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva An Intimate Gaze installation view by Oskar Proctor |
Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva
Manometry II 2017 |
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