Marilena Karagkiozi
http://www.karagkiozidesign.com/
Studies:
Bachelor of Arts in History, Archaeology & History of Art at the National Kapodistrian University of Athens. 2013
Jewelry & Object Design and Construction courses with Y. Siotis (Kent Institute Of Art & Design BA (HONS) Silversmith, Goldsmith & Jewellery Design). 2008-2012
Classic Jewelry courses, Glyptography and Gemology seminars with T. Damianidou, (Diploma on Gemology, GTL Athens). 2006-2008
Summer seminar at Alchimia Contemporary Jewellery School of Florence with Peter Bauhuius. 2007
Classic Jewelry courses with M. Panagiotou (Goldsmith with 40 year experience & graduate of Athens School of Fine Arts). 2005-2006
Exhibitions:
Joya Barcelona Art Jewellery Fair 2016 with Organic Cement series, Barcelona , Spain, 2016
Jewels in ferment with Organic Cement series, (Special mention AGC for the piece Alien grape, Associazione Gioiello Contemporaneo) at Piacenza (Torre Fornello), Milan (Laboratorio Formentini), Padova (Spazio Laboratorio Rossi) Italy. Chicago (SOFA Chicago exhibition), New York ( Reinstein Ross gallery), USA 2016
Autor International Contemporary Jewelry Fair, Bucharest, Romania with Katharsis series. 2016
Espaijoia, Barcelona, Spain with Berlin’s Blockshhh… 2015
Madridjoya, Madrid, Spain with Berlin’s Blockshhh… 2015
Exhibition UNITED FACTORIES_Preview EXPO 2015 Milan, Italy. 2015
Universal conference WIAD 2015 (World Information Architecture Day) at Thessaloniki Concert Hall, Greece. As a member of Urban Fiction, with A’ Design Award Winning floor lamp Urbanoids, Airy Stool, Coffee table, Escapills. 2015
Quadrilegio-Intrecci connessioni artistiche, Parma, Italy, organized by: Giulio Belletti, Maura Ferrari, Simona Manfredi, Galleria d’Arte Alphacentauri. 2014
6th Design LAB of Athens Technopolis-Gazi, with Urbanoids. 2014
Zeb, Parma, Italy. 2014
Awards:
Special mention AGC (Associazione Gioiello Contemporaneo) for Alien Grape, Gioielli in fermento, Piacenza, Italy. 2016
As a member of the Urban Fiction design team I won the Bronze A’ Design Award and Competition in the category of Lighting Products and Projects with Urbanoids (floor lamp, room separator). 2013
work / photo
Time’s Eyes, photography & digital print with textual statement, 2017
This text is my project description but also my personal textual statement regarding the topics of Intolerance, Racism, Xenophobia and Antisemitism and my vision of a human society.
My name is Marilena Karagkiozi. I am an artist from Greece, living and working in Italy for the past 4 years. My journey from believing in ‘undeniable’ truths to embracing ambiguity is reflected in my art, including the piece Time’s Eyes.
While living in Greece, in spaces that were known and familiar, I developed clear opinions about such complex subjects as intolerance, racism, xenophobia, and anti-Semitism. My perspective was blurred by dichotomies I could not deconstruct — good and evil, right and wrong, racist and cosmopolitan. It was only when I moved to Northern Italy and found myself outside my comfort zone that shades of grey entered my black-and-white view of key issues.
It was from the position of an ‘outsider’ that I was able to realize what it means to not be seen the way you want to be seen and why “otherness” provokes reactions in people that are not easy to decipher. At first, I immersed myself into Italian culture, full of enthusiasm to understand my host country and build a new home. But when my enthusiasm was not reciprocated, I got tired and angry at the locals for failing to make me feel at home. I was hurt. And although I did not go so far as to feel that I was experiencing racism, I became immaturely judgmental, possibly out of alienation. It took a while to accept that we were products of different cultural ecologies. And once I did, there was peace.
I understand xenophobia. I have no tolerance for it when it becomes aggressive, but I recognize the power of fear. The response to violence cannot be violence, and all the wars of the past centuries have brought few lessons while causing immense carnage.
My art articulates my conviction that we need to make peace with our human nature and learn to control forces and instincts that lead to the destruction of self and others. We need to learn to cool off and think clearly, even in moments of great ambiguity and intense change.
My self-portrait, Time’s Eyes, depicts my belief that time (practical and theoretical) provides a safe distance that sometimes is needed in order to confront extreme situations with wisdom and serenity.
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