The Sheltering Word
This exhibition is an
art quest which explores the healing and protective power of the written word
as a specific cultural idiom and takes the form of a dialogue between Greek and
North African cultures.
“Using entirely natural
materials such as cotton fabric, handmade paper and natural inks, reeds, leaves
and linen twine, I offer my own interpretation of amulets,
"inscribed" talismanic cloths and “sheltering words” - pinax,
-inventing a new magical language in the realm of "written
protection". Working in these raw materials, I’m at the same time
meditating on their medical-magical-protective properties and their symbolic
meanings. In my works the poetic language replaces the magic formulas considering
anew the healing properties of art in modern societies”.
The spectator revisits
the symbols again in order to reactivate ancient bonds with the eternal subject
of supernatural protection drawn from the continuous exchange across this
specific geographic and cultural area with its distinctive indigenous scripts.
Irini Gonou was born in Athens. She studied sculpture at the Ecole
Nationale Superieure des Beaux-Arts and at the Ecole Nationale Superieure des
Arts Decoratifs in Paris.
From 1980 she has shown her work in thirty two solo exhibitions and she has
participated in many group exhibitions in Greece and abroad. Her artwork is
included to a variety of important public and private collections in Greece and
abroad. She lives and works in Athens.
