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Photographic Material

Greek Canadian artist Athena Papadopoulos’ practice is a mixture of collage and assemblage. Based in London, she has exhibited work at galleries such as Emalin and the Zabludowicz Collection. Her pink-toned body of work consists of amputated legs, bed sheets stained with red wine, drawings of caricature-type figures and appropriated images. “I create non-linear narrative works that reconstruct archetypical portrayals of certain demographics of contemporary women that are also mixed with autobiographical infusions.” Papadopoulos combines unconventional materials in an almost baroque style, resulting in sculptures and wall-based work that are filled with tension and motion. Addressing ideas about women and the construction of identity, Papadopoulos is inspired by Cindy Sherman and her method of creating characters from art history, literature and popular culture as well as the documentary style of photography by Nan Goldin and Diane Arbus. “Photography has always been a part of my work but now to me at least it has a more indexical quality, where it is used in the same way I use drawing. The images are scanned and printed into T-Shirt transfers and applied to my various surfaces to create these collage/assemblage works.” Experimenting with the idea of the self, Papadopoulos uses the memories of the women she encountered while growing as source material. Transforming the featured characters into a non-fictional hallucinatory realm, her work occupies a fascinating space between reality and fantasy. “I am using all of those experiences as back-research.