Leda Alexopoulou

Land Art Project: Do you want a piece of me?

The title of my latest series Do you want a piece of me? at once inviting, provocative and playful, alludes to our fundamental human need of possession and ownership. What do we need to possess in order to be happy? What do we want to keep specifically for ourselves? How does losing this special ‘piece’ make us feel?

I try to tackle these questions by exploring the enduring and complex relationship between nature and human existence. In my work, I frequently observe and imitate nature and its creative processes in an attempt to come up with answers. To that end, I work both in my studio and outdoors, in a natural environment, where I can derive immediate experience, inspiration and stimuli.

‘‘A piece of Greece’’’, Sculpture by the Sea: It is the latest work of the series and examines the interplay of nature, human existence and possession by focusing on rocks. The rock stands for continuity: that piece of our native land, our home, that we cherish in our memories, especially when we are homesick. For people displaced from their homes due to war, poverty or climate change, the idea of (re)creating rock-hard foundations in a distance land is paramount. This idea personally resonates with me, as back in the 1960s part of my mother’s family left Greece for Australia, where they live now. I thought about how capturing the imprint of a rock in one’s birthplace and transposing it on a rock in one’s newly adopted country, one could preserve a piece of home, a piece to remember and possess; ultimately, a self-picture.

With that in mind, I have created an actual imprint of rocks located in a bay on the island of Crete. The imprint process was a laborious and dangerous affair, as the rocks were rather steep and had to be smeared with a natural, eco-friendly squid ink. I then placed a fabric on top of the rock and brushed it to create the imprint. I have consciously chosen to work with fabric, a flexible material that is easy to carry, pack in a suitcase and travel with. It will be placed over the Tamarama beach rocks. The idea is that the two landscapes, the Cretan and the Australian, can somehow connect with each other, mirroring the interconnections of the numerous people who have relocated to Australia from around the world.

Leda Alexopoulou, May 2020

© 2018 leda alexopoulou

My work is inspired by the landscape and history of the island of Crete and, by extension, of Greece as a whole. It is a land of light, earth, water and olive trees. It is an ecosystem with an intense energy and with a color palette that has a sense of an intimate rawness.

A series of very distinct pieces of land and black rocks, trees and bushes and the luminous blue colour of the sea: these are the predominant elements within a space that is as if it was designed to accommodate one of the oldest and greatest civilizations in human history.

© 2018 leda alexopoulou