Life, death, rebirth. Anita Xanthou deals with the Heraclitean flow of time, the eternal cosmic cycle, the uninterrupted energy of the universe. But also the "female" identity
Kooness: Tell me about your background, how did you become an artist?
Anita Xanthou: Since I was young my love to create art defined my life. Art has always been part of myself and my life. My first exhibition was in 1984, when I was twenty years old and it marked the beginning of my artistic activity.
K: Tell me about your artistic practice, can you describe your artistic process?
A: In my artistic practice my main interest is the humanity I find in nature. The medium I prefer is painting. I love to paint. Then, I also create objects, artistic constructions, installations and collaborations with dancers or theatrical teams. During the period of confinement and quarantine she escaped to nature where she composed visual stories with herself as the protagonist. My constant companion is a large white Styrofoam egg, or sometimes several of them in different sizes which I directed as if they are actors.
K: How do you define kinetic art?
A: Artistic toys! Kinetic art for me it's like I create a toy based on the rules of nature. I play with the light, the sounds, the optical phenomena and the water. I enter in contact with the inner human’s nature.
K: What role does nature play in your artistic works?
A: My interest in the lows of nature is a constant in my works. In my opinion, art is a broad field of knowledge that is acquired through an empirical relationship with the wealth of information one can find in the natural world. In my latest series, I physically occupy the wounded landscape, choreographing myself in a symbolic act of healing the environmental traumas. I metaphorically transform darkness into light and destruction into rebirth. Freed from established social conventions and gender biases, I highlight the wild, primordial element and constant transformations of female existence in a work underlined by overt eco-feminist pursuits. The images are allegories for femininity as manna-earth, the flow of time, decay, death, rebirth, the constant universal mutation of matter. My art sounds the alarm for the future of the planet, projecting the vision of a new, hopeful beginning.
K: Can you tell us about your last series?
A: The last series of photos I worked on marks the beginning of a new project. It makes art in cooperation with talented photographers, supporting the feminine principles. This is the reason for its title “Women Principles”. The photographs were made by Natasha Kotsambasi, where I am immortalised in Pelioritic landscapes with old locust trees, primitive slates that resemble log-sculptures, empty beaches. But also in Tatoi, after the terrible fires in the summer of 2021, in an environment full of ashes, tree carcasses and burnt earth. I usually perform a series of specific static poses, and are rarely captured in motion. At times, I replace her artificial co-star with her body. It curls, echoing the shape of the "Orphean Egg". The image is twofold: egg and fetus; lifeless shell and future life. In one photograph, the ambiguous image is reflected in the water. It traces a poetically surreal portrait, almost painterly. Its form becomes one with the sea, the rocks, the mountains, the sky. A peculiar body map, a mystical ritual of unification of the self with mother nature.
K: Have your artistic expression and practice changed through the years?
A: I have done several kinds of arts throughout the years and I love to collaborate with musicians, the most gifted, dancers, writers or philosophers, etc. The exchange between different disciplines can be wonderful. I like to paint figurative or abstract subjects or surreal paintings. I am preparing my next exhibition with paintings based on the idea of my last photos. Meanwhile, I am creating an aeolic object and a small fountain for a hotel's garden
K: Is there any ritual you follow when creating?
A: For me, art is a spiritual act. I have been living in the countryside for over ten years now and in nature I understood how grateful I am for our existence. I live alone in nature and my art express the contact I have with people. I am a transformer and all my works are inspired by nature itself.
8: What is your favorite work, can you describe it to me?
K: My favorite work is "Whole in the Water". It is a system with water and big vases presenting a water whirl. It's beautiful how the water goes round reflecting the sunlight!
9: According to you, what role does art play in society?
K: Art is a political means. The system uses art to control the crowds with images! I make art to positively influence the relationship between people and nature.
Cover Image: Anita Xanthou, Ancient Mound at Olympia, 2021. Courtesy of Eleon Gallery.
Written by Asia Artom