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ANNA THEOHARAKI "CONNECTION" | 31. March - 11. April |
Spring: colour, touch, caress, regeneration...
Its approach is always the same and always startling - as is the work of Anna Theoharaki with whom Scala Shop Gallery opens the new season's series of exhibitions - heralding the coming of spring, inside and out. Her work is rare; she paints without brushes or colours, her jewelry is not made of gold or precious stones, and her sculptures are made of soft living materials. Cavafyesque poetry without mother of pearl, coral, or ebony... A myth made manifest of both land and sea, a mélange of cultures with threads unraveling to link Ariadne to the Incas, the maypole to the Gordian knot, a seamstress of the east with the island weaver.
ARTWORK
Anna Theokaraki studied design and graphic arts at the Petra Institute. She continued her learning through seminars and personal readings. In this way, she learned to listen closely to ancient voices and primordial symbols as she worked quietly in her studio.
With the humble tools of a seamstress, she patiently winds countless threads round cords.
Some are ties for the body, encircling the wrist like mothers would tie the strings of March on their children's wrists; others are meant for a particular space, knots tied in the air, with secrets woven into the strands about life and immortality, as their multiple colours speak of joy and optimism.
Or she cuts up old clothes, still bearing traces of the people who wore them, she mends them, creating what she calls "soft boulders", to sit and rest our backs, cloth boulders that bring us closer to Mother Earth and other beings. Like a modern Ariadne, Anna Theoharaki's hands unwind the colourful balls of yarn of contemporary communication.
Anna Theoharaki has participated in several group exhibitions:
Paul Walker Studio, Aegina (2003)
Aegina Bookbinder's (2008)
Groza Manor, Aegina (2009)
The Meet Market – Technopolis, Gazi (2009)
Fistiki Fest, Aegina (2009) – costume designer
and live window theatre with Jean-Jacques Tesson
Her jewellery is on permanent exhibit at the Benaki Museum (Pireos Street Annexe) and various private collections.
Jeanne Roques