ALKISTIS MAVROKEFALOU

ALKISTIS MAVROKEFALOU

fivefold

On Thursday, January 22^nd, from 19:00 to 21:00, Ileana Tounta Contemporary Art Center

presents Alkistis Mavrokefalou’s solo show, curated by Galini Lazani.

The exhibition will run until March 07^th 2026.

In her second solo exhibition at the Ileana Tounta Contemporary Art Center, Alkistis Mavrokefalou continues to raise questions about human existence, with works that at first glance draw their inspiration from nature. Whatever she chooses each time to study and transform into artistic work, has its roots in her personal experiences, in which nature and its creatures intertwine with human existence.  As a result, elements and landscapes from the natural environment in which she grew up dominates once again her new work: sea urchins, rocks and the sea. However, the dense writing in her drawings on millimeter paper is now evolving into compositions with larger openings, which lend the works a sense of calm.  All of the above natural forms exist in tangible form in the micro-environments she “builds” inside plexiglass, but with the addition of a new, human-made material. These are handmade lace pieces made by the artist herself using kopaneli, a traditional technique that is tending to disappear and whose motifs are inspired by the Greek landscape. In other words, the same applies to the tradition of kopaneli as to Mavrokefalou’s works: the symmetry of nature is transformed into a personal, contemporary human creation. In her case, of course, the threads of kopaneli entangle with fragments she collects from the natural world: cicada shells, mandarin peels, urchin spines.  It is worth mentioning that in some of her drawings, one can see a handmade QR code, also structured from microscopic elements. The digital footprint of these codes forms a short narrative when “read” through a mobile phone: another work, the starting point of which is a story she heard in her childhood: “If you want to make a wish for someone you love and have it come true, whisper it to a urchin. That way, the wish remains well guarded and protects the person for whom it was made.”  All these thoughts that drive the artist to create her works may seem to concern our relationship with the natural environment, but aren’t they ultimately an extension of our position among humans? Even her choice to focus on sea urchins in her new works has to do with the way humans assign specific characteristics and roles to creatures of nature, based solely on their external features and their own experiences. However, these characteristics do not define their true identity and Mavrokefalou looks beyond the outer shell, seeking a more comprehensive and empathetic approach to everything and everyone around us.

Galini Lazani

January 2026

* fivefold symmetry is the anatomical structure of sea urchins (and the family of echinoderms and asteroids) and is used by the artist as a geometric motif in the exhibition’s three-dimensional works.