The exhibition
Two kinds of nature
an exhibition for Ekfrasi Gallery, Athens
September 23 – October 18, 2014
I am a visual storyteller, drawn to stories and places that resonate with social conscience and responsible practice. Each of us is the product of our heritage and our surroundings, of our history and our emotions. Artists are the mirrors of those experiences. We serve as observers, viewers, editors, and translators of complex social issues.
Small drawings have always been for me a means to either document a place, an experience or an idea. What lies beneath the surface of a retelling of details or events? Drawing ‘in an expanded sense” with a laser cutter and a digital sewing machine has provided infinite possibilities for examining layers of meaning and realizing works that are complete works in themselves or intermediate stages in the process of asking “what if?”
Causes and Conditions
2013-2014 has been a challenging one for my health. My capacity to physically create large artwork was impaired. Challenges to one’s health, the frailty of the human body, pain, healing, and hope, are origins for the imagery for this suite. In the process of translating small mixed media drawings into laser cuts of handmade paper, changes occurred. For me, they are analogous to a body’s phases of repair.
Salt: a romance
Chapter 4: Missolonghi
A suite of work (12 images and related texts) explores the area of Missolonghi: its marshy wetlands, its salt flats, a bit of its history and its location on a migratory route for birds that has been designated a protected area of international importance. It is a narrative of details that embodies the nature of Greece: an environment that despite loss and lament can embolden hope.
Diane Katsiafika
— The artist
Selected Works
