The Romantic University of Athens did an open call for artists to participate in this big project called: “Museum of modern Greek suicide”. Each artist would receive a letter that was written by a suicide victim and had to create an artwork based on the letter. The following text is the one that accompany the artwork in the exhibition.
August 1929. Outside of a small town in Galatista Chalkidiki the villagers saw a young man hanging from an olive tree. The rope had penetrated the flesh, it was just holding his neck just before it was cut off. They looked in his pockets. He was the recently dismissed soldier Ilias Gounaris and in his note he was apologizing to his brother for the family problems that had been caused. It ended: “I say goodbye to my brother and my sister in law, to whom I have many things to write, but I can’t because my eyes are filled with blood.” Ilias would be buried under the olive tree of his tragic end.
ARTWORK: Emily Antoniou in her artwork “Extensive feeling” covers the surface of the wooden structure with melted wax creating textures. The hanging weight item refers to the pendulum of life but at the same time it also refers to this specific incident. Under this item, on the floor, she would place a handful of soil. Because of the restrictions of Covid-19 pandemic, she wasn’t allowed to travel and find the soil she was looking for. Pending…
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