Ioanna Sakellaraki is a Greek visual artist, creative practice researcher and prospective Fulbright fellow. Her work investigates the relationship between collective cultural memory and fiction. Drawing emphasis on the photographic object, process and encounter, she explores the boundaries of a primitive, yet futuristic vision of places and people.
Reminiscing "The Truth is in the Soil" showcase for @royalcollegeofart MA show 5 years ago already.
It all began at the hillside of the cemetery where my father is buried.
I consider this place a sacred topography for my practice, something like a stratified archive inscribed in stone, skin, and soil.
I always return to it, to find more of what I have lost within it.
Each time a different version of the mourning figure is embedded in the landscape and traced through its shifting, unhealed, material, raw yet allegoric form.
The soft vessel of a hard memory.
Images:
My mother performing Moirologia (fate songs) as part of Greek funerary ritual, The Truth is in the Soil, 2020
My mother as an Epitaphios (lamentation upon the tomb), The Truth is in the Soil, 2019
My mother with her fake pearl necklace given to her by my father after a betrayal trip to Japan, The Seven Circuits of a Pearl, 2022
My mother during the mnemosyno service, 40 days after my father`s passing, Aidos, 2016
#performance #photoproject
#grief #royalcollegeofart #alumni #really #death #ioannasakellaraki #contemporaryartist #womenphotographers #femalefigure #Greece #ritual #ancestral #hellenic #tradition #faces #documentary #installation #mother #athenian #motherhood #memory #family #thetruthisinthesoil #thesevencircuitsofapearl #homeland #textile #visualstoryteller #analogphotography
Dear friends, I am beginning the process of clearing out my home-studio in Melbourne and I am therefore parting with a few rare pieces from my recent solo exhibitions in this part of the world. I would love for them to find a new home before my departure. It would also help me fund the next steps for my practice overseas 🌊
If one speaks to you, message me for pricing and details.
Thanks in advance for all the support x
Helmet Shell, Torres Strait Islands, Far North Queensland, 2022
Archival Pigment Print, Canson Rag Photographique, 90x90cm, Black Ash Wood Box Frame, Museum Glass, Edition of 3+ 2 AP
Installation view from Solo Show The Seven Circuits of a Pearl @five_walls_projects 2023
#artworks #limitededition
#ioannasakellaraki
#fineart
#fineartprints #thesevencircuitsofapearl #buy art #artphotography #photoproject #firewalls #exhibition #art #artcollector #uniqueart #maritime #sea #shell #seashell #torresstrait #australia #torresstraitislander #composition #stilllife_gallery #analogphotography #spiral #darkworld
I`m over the moon 🌙🌝 🌜as the most exciting news just came in awarding me with a prestigious Fulbright Fellowship for independent research in relation to my art practice @smithsonian National Museum of American History beginning next year in Washington D.C !!!
During my project funded by @the_fulbright_program I will utilise glass stereograph collections to reflect on the theoretical, critical and material disposition of the fragment in Greek antiquity as a method of inquiry for art practice and archival research leading up to the creation of a series of artworks in the intersection of photography, collage and installation art.
As my practice-led PhD is currently under submission, I couldn`t ask for a better opportunity to put all this knowledge on archival art, creative practice research and literary theory into practice and further experimentation in the coming months!
Can`t wait to connect with fellow artists and researchers in the US next year! Thanking wholeheartedly @the_fulbright_program & Fulbright Foundation Greece @iieglobal @smithsonian @amhistorymuseum as well as the few good people who recommended my work and supported my application (you know who you are) 🙏
PS: (pic 3): Daruma`s dream came true and now I see the path I have for so long envisioned 👁
#fulbright #fulbrighter
#smithsonian #researchfellow #ioannasakellaraki
#practiceasresearch
#artphotography #archivalresearch #museology #museumcollection #museumofamericanhistory #greekantiquity #Greece #artfellowship #darumadoll #scholar #visitingfellow #artistresearch #fulbrightgrants #fellowship #grants #greekart #contemporaryartist #contemporarywomenartists #washingtondc #gratitude #america #usa #arthistory #rcaalumni
Jeremiah under the shadow of Manam volcano, Bismarck Archipelago, Papua New Guinea, 2024
Manam Volcano, located off the northern coast of Papua New Guinea, is one of the country’s most active and hazardous volcanoes. Its eruptive history stretches back to at least 1616, with frequent explosive events shaping both the island and the lives of its inhabitants.
Major eruptions in 2004 and 2005 forced the evacuation of over 9,000 residents, as pyroclastic flows and ashfall overwhelmed villages. The volcano has two summit craters and four radial valleys that channel lava and debris, often directing hazards toward populated areas. Notably, a powerful eruption in October 2021 sent ash plumes over 15 km into the atmosphere, accompanied by incandescent ejecta and pyroclastic flows.
Despite ongoing activity, including eruptions as recent as 2024, many islanders have returned, drawn by ancestral ties and the island’s fertile soil. Manam remains under close observation due to its potential for large-scale eruptions and associated risks such as mudflows, sulfur dioxide emissions, and even tsunamis.
From The Mark of a Terrible Sun, a photographic exploration of the lands and people residing alongside the Pacific Ring of Fire, the world`s most seismically and volcanically active zone (2022-ongoing)
Discover more on my website via Link in Bio 🌋
#themarkofaterriblesun
#analogphotography
#disasterrelief #ioannasakellaraki #art #catastrophe #creativepractice #fieldwork #png #volcanoes #landscapephotography #pacificringoffire #ringoffire #Nature #papuanewguinea #portrait #disasters #volcanic #manammotu #manam #Melanesia #documentaryphotography #kodakportra #volcanoeruption
