"Saltwater Secrets" is a layered exploration of archival ephemera and maritime themes realised while navigating the uneasy process of uncovering a long-buried family secret.

Turning and returning to the same places where my father`s archive has taken me after his death, I have begun to integrate my un-knowledge about our family history into a body of work that goes on to reimagine it materially, subjectively and symbolically.

Here some of the first outputs from parts 2 and 3 of the trilogy realised last month in my studio in Athens

#secrets #wip #thesevencircuitsofaplearl
#saltwatersecrets #collage #contemporaryart
#artphotography #Greece #artstudio #archive #practiceasresearch #familyarchives #pearl #death #analogphotography #archives #mixedmedia #disruption #fantasy #surreal #creatures #paravan #japan #Athens #zenzabronica #kodakportra #comtemporaryphotography #split #dichotomy #ioannasakellaraki

Another way of experiencing the language of my making is through its fluvial nature, reminiscent of the ocean. Characterised by both an emotional intensity and material distance, the volume of the images and writings produced throughout the past 4 years signals a continual reformation across all of its dimensions.

Thinking beyond the maritime metaphor, making both within and outside this project has in essence become a way of moving through my process of seeking in-between instabilities and becomings. While not included in the current edit, the spaces where my work was produced while journeying through my father’s maritime archive, both metaphorically and literary, are integral to the project’s evolution—continuing to shape its trajectory as hybrid constellations. 

Paying attention to these attempts, it seems that my intention was to already explore and voice my ways of inhabiting these spaces both within my practice and the archive, designating a rhythm suitable for encompassing the contesting forces of my inquiry.

Early impressions of an ever-evolving portrait of Anna (during my residency in Japan following my Solo Show @remindersphotographystronghold in 2022) 

#anna #ioanna #thesevencircuitsofapearl #ioannasakellaraki #Japan #Greece #mixedmedia #art #artistjourney #contemporaryart #practiceasresearch #artphotography #analoguephotography #surreal #fantasy #painting #artresidency #explore #archives #ocean #sailing

Becoming an artist was never part of the plan, at least not one I remember making. Nine years ago, I was working in an office in Brussels as a project and communications coordinator for an NGO, while attending evening photography classes three times a week at a French college. It was a quiet rhythm, structured and steady.

Then, at 27, everything shifted. My father passed away and with his death came the birth of my artistic self. I left my job and traveled to Australia with my mother to visit a branch of our family she had not seen in forty years and I had never met. It was there, in the unfamiliar warmth of reconnection and grief, that photography truly happened for me. The intertwining of death and family became the core of my work.

When I returned, I began attending festivals, meeting people, sharing my work. I was offered a place in the MA program @royalcollegeofart Over time, my early love for literature, rooted in my background in journalism and cultural studies, began to merge with my photographic practice. Eventually, I received a scholarship to pursue a practice-led PhD, which I have just completed after four years living in Australia.

Since then, I have exhibited widely, published my first monograph and traveled the world, making and thinking about my father, the greatest adventurer I have ever known. I never asked him the questions I should have. At 35, I find myself reflecting on the life he lived at my age, a life I knew nothing about until I discovered his archives. Photographs he made during a time and space I was absent from, yet now inhabit through my own making. In his absence, I am present.

Can losing a parent make life feel so worth living? For me, it has. And that, Dad, is the greatest gift you never knew you gave to me.

Thank you x

Images:

Vestiges of a shelled witness, 2024

A parasite invasion, 2023

A sea slug wonder in two, 2024

Nine thousand miles of meanders,2023

Dad and I in my early twenties in Athens

#family #archives #practiceasresearch #ioannasakellaraki #artphotography #collage #memory #familyarchive #death #secrets #dad #contemporaryart #artmaking #artistjourney #grief #research #creativewriting #Greece #Australia

I have been waiting for something to break
Now, it`s time to put all the pieces together
Where else could this task unfold but back to the origin of all ruptures ?

First week at my Athenian studio fragmenting parts from "The Seven Circuits of a Pearl" into an installation 🧩

Following 4,5 years of practice-led PhD research into archives, pearls and disasters, I`ve felt the urgency to dismantle the magic nightmares haunting my family and practice further 🪄

Stay tuned for the final piece 👐

#fragments #fractions #artmaking #creative #photography #collage #installation #Athens #artstudio_post #home #practiceasresearch #wip #artphotography #greece #memory #origin #fantasy #streets #athenian #greekartist #look #shells #pearls #archives #thesevencircuitsofapearl #installationart #behindthescenes #creativeprocess #ioannasakellaraki #workinprogress #pearls