Nasia Papavasiliou

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In a series of sculptural installations, recorded and live performance the artist connects the metaphor of the salt crystals and the miracle tears of Chios island Mastic trees. They both act  as a physical manifestation of emotion undertaking an interpretation of nature, grief, the healing process and place making to create bridges of associations and resonances between social, existential and political narratives.

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Salt represents the process of things being broken down into their individual elements, purified and returned integrated to the whole.

Just as there's salt in our tears there is salt in our bodies. The liquids in the body carry a memory of the ocean as they have a chemical makeup similar to seawater.  Making our bodies directly connecting to the ocean. 

In contrast, salt played a central role in the economies of many regions as much as it  sometimes implicated in the outbreak of conflict. It was used in culture and religion from the Middle ages, symbol of the earth, death, life, purification, stability, equality, the material world and often paired with the celestial sphere or associated with the moon due to their shared minerals. 

The work utilizes different mediums ,  various forms/shapes of the material of salt (architectural shaped salt bricks, salt cubes from the dead sea, running and road salt) and the recreated actions inspired by the rituals of mastic cultivation. The multilayered project Als creates allegories  and images of contradictions,dualities/ liminal spaces and overlaps of time and space.

A reference to the Nepantla - by Gloria Anzaldua, a concept (used in Chicano-latino anthropology)  which literally refers to the space between two figurative literal bodies where two areas meet or separate. 

In the performative activation of the space, the artist creates  attempts to create multiple forms of reality that are viewed at the same time. There is an essence of in between-ness of overlapping and layered spaces where different cultures, social and geographic locations, events and realities, psychological and sociological political, spiritual and imagined worlds interconnect. 

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