On the occasion of Condo CDMX 2024, Proyecto H is pleased to invite KIRKI from Greece, to present an exhibition of textile work by artists Nia Hefe Filiogianni and George Petsikopoulos. 

For the artists’ first presentation in Mexico, ‘Interwoven/Entretejidos’ is guided by Hefe Filiogianni and Petsikopoulos’ profound commitment to semiotic inquiry and sustainability in artmaking. Though distinct in their approaches, Hefe Filiogianni and Petsikopoulos find common ground in their exploration of Greek culture. Both artists employ textiles to make subtle, targeted gestures that utilize language, semantics, and symbolism to nod to the complex social tensions underlying Greek reality and recent history, allowing viewers to unravel the layers of meaning concealed within their minimalist compositions.

Though Hefe Filiogianni’s pastel color palette evokes calmness and serenity, her works explore the darkness of both loving and questioning one’s culture and background. Inspired by her experiences of living and working between the UK and Greece, where she is originally from, her works investigate emotional turmoil expressed in a very symbolic language. Some tensions explored include beauty vs ugliness, certainty vs doubt, and crisis vs opportunity. Through simple shapes, signs, colors, textures, and the use of the Greek alphabet, Hefe Filiogianni underlines social realities that challenge viewer preconceptions and question their motivations. In ‘All For the Hairdressers,’ the artist playfully proclaims long live hair salons, to showcase how in Greece, despite the financial difficulties that the country has been facing for the better part of this century, hair salons will always be in demand. 

Petsikopoulos has been working exclusively with traditional textiles and natural dyes and fibers since 2017. As is exemplified by the artist’s involvement in the cultivation of relevant crops, his work embraces natural fibers and brings to the forefront the argument for using sustainable materials in artmaking. Equally, he borrows from archaic and traditional Greek iconography to highlight and reposition the role of these archetypal motifs in our collective consciousness. Colour is used purposefully, to draw direct lines of communication with Greek mythology, proverbs, folk tales, and contemporary socio-political ideas. In ‘Don’t Fret,’ he uses the characteristic key-shaped meander (a pattern that is also known as ‘Greek Fret’), which he then mirrors upon himself by seamlessly reversing the thread color.

-KIRKI

Nia Hefe Filiogianni (b. 1990 in Athens, Greece) lives between Athens (GR) and London (UK). She is a visual artist, creative director, coach, and founder of Cream Athens, a non-profit agency supporting emerging artists from all over the world, who graduated with a distinction from DEREE, The American College of Greece with a BA (Hons) in Visual Arts & Art History in 2014, and from Central Saint Martins (UAL) with an MA in Communication Design. Nia’s practice lies between mixed media painting and collage, using primarily recycled textiles and gouache. Her pieces are heavily based on semiotics, with her themes being politics and love, inspired by Greek myths and Ancient Greek culture. Her work has been widely exhibited primarily in London (UK), Los Angeles (US) and Athens (GR) at the Lethaby Gallery, The Art Foundation, The British Museum, and the Royal Academy of Arts amongst others. She has been featured in Vogue GR, Bricks Magazine, CNN GR, and more.

George Petsikopoulos (b.1987 Athens, Greece) lives between Athens (GR) and London (UK). His works have been showcased in Greece, UK, Germany and Monaco, in group and solo exhibitions. The artist’s body of work is multidisciplinary, stemming from the use of different techniques acquired through numerous apprenticeships. Since 2017, the artist has been researching and employing traditional textile crafts and natural dyeing techniques in his personal work. Fascinated and intrigued by African art and highly valuing its unique aura; George Petsikopoulos attempts to captivate symbols of a cultural existence and untamed beauty, reflecting a past life of former glory.

KIRKI is a nomadic gallery in the Greek Cyclades (founded 2023). Each year, KIRKI invites artists to respond to the geography, local life, customs and culture of an island in the region. The gallery takes a hyper-local look at a different Cycladic island for each exhibition, and draws inspiration from its particular realities and histories to develop its theme. KIRKI is moved and inspired by the cultural richness of the Cyclades throughout history, and aims to recontextualise the multiplicity of references that they offer by inviting contemporary artists to unpack and embody them in their work.

kirkiprojects.com / @kirkiprojects