GLOW.GR

Visual artist Peggy Kliafa exclusively on GLOW shortly before the opening of her exhibition “Healing the Grid” at Zoumboulakis Galleries

By Eleni Papastergiou

Think about how many times in our lives – making a self-observation – everyday life flows dangerously quickly, thoughts are trapped in patterns of inertia and the search for immediate solutions is pushing us towards superficial treatments that cover up but do not cure. Taking this context seriously, visual artist Peggy Kliafa highlights the tension between order and spiritual quest, between covering up symptoms and seeking the essence. Her promising exhibition titled “Healing the Grid”, which will open its doors on September 11th at Zoumboulakis Galleries, invites us to experience this process and witness how her works transform symbols into images of a society seeking balance, in a space where art and healing meet to make us breathe, think and feel again.

The grid of modern life: between control and superficial treatment

In this exhibition, the “grid” appears at times as an oppressive structure and at times as a system of control, reflecting how the diseases of modern life are often addressed with quick, superficial solutions, rather than profound changes in the way we live. She emphasizes: “The “grid” interested me because it is not only a design tool, but incorporates many aspects of our modern urban life. Architecturally, digitally, socially or spiritually, grids can easily become oppressive structures and control systems. Overmedication is often our reaction to them, a quick fix that covers up the symptoms without changing our daily lives – creating another rigid, cold mechanism that doesn’t heal, it just manages”.

Art meets medicine: thoughts and doubts about medications

The artist explores the relationship between art and medicine, connecting historical interaction with personal experiences and contemporary practices of overmedication. “The relationship between art and medicine has concerned me since the beginning of my career. Art has been inspired by medicine and vice versa. Today the fields of Art & Science or sci-art are living proof of this with impressive results. A pill advertisement years ago made me wonder: do I need another pill? Is it right for my children to take antibiotics? The power of medicines is non-negotiable but controversial. I try to capture this ambiguity in my works”, points out the artist.

“Speed doesn’t heal”

We discussed about superficial health solutions and the multi-dimensional nature of people – physical, mental and spiritual. She explains: “First of all, every person must be treated as a whole, consisting of physical, mental, social and spiritual dimensions. It is not utopian, but it requires awareness, collective action and a shift in values. The dependence of modern man on drugs is a given and resembles the logic of the grid. Instead of addressing the real causes of diseases that require time-consuming changes in our lifestyle, we resort to quick chemical solutions. Nowadays, we are entrapped by speed and superficial approach to treatment, so that we can return as quickly as possible to our daily lives, the so-called “normality.” The medicine, with its active ingredients that are directed at full speed to the hurting part of the body in order to manage the symptom, risks ignoring the root of the problem. The part is treated as more important than the whole with negative long-term health consequences. However, we often forget that everything in our body is interconnected, just like on the planet we live. No matter how far away a disaster occurs, its consequences will sooner or later affect our own neighborhood. In a world with a holistic approach to health and life, medications are neither an enemy nor a panacea. They are one of the many tools of care and treatment, integrated into the whole health system that sees the person as a whole.”

The body as a field of reflection

In her works, the body – both physical and political – is ever-present, often allusively, through symbols, metaphors and materials that arouse reflection and emotion, highlighting how the modern perception of health, beauty and vulnerability puts us in vicious cycles of pharmaceutical and social pressures. As she explains: “The political body or the politics of the body (Body Politics) and their influence on the physical body has always existed and is a huge chapter, difficult to analyze in a few words. What concerns me in relation to the issues I examine is that nowadays that there is an abundance of medications and easy access to them, we put our physical bodies under great pressure and in vicious cycles of treatments, in order to satisfy body politics and the modern perception of health and beauty. We take medicines to lose weight, to have a muscular body, to lower cholesterol to often unrealistic numbers, and many other things, with questionable results and consequences for our health.”

In fact, she continues: “Body politics in pharmaceutical practice highlights to what extent the concept of health is not neutral, but is shaped by social, political and economic factors. In my work the body is always present but usually suggestively, I hope in a poetic way, as you say, in the sense of using symbols, metaphors and materials that provoke exploration and emotion. Wherever there are medicines and health issues, the human body is obviously present, but associatively rather than descriptively or melodramatically. Although this method is not “romantic”, I believe it is possible to raise awareness by creating a field of reflection on our relationship with the body, health, society and memory. I use the “accumulation” of materials on my “handmade and excessively time-consuming” works, large quantities of pills and their packaging, often crumpled and used (another element that suggests human presence) in order to address issues of overconsumption, materiality, vulnerability. Thus the body is absent, but I would like to believe that its absence is eloquent.”

Peggy Kliafa and her view of the world

Peggy Kliafa is a multimedia visual artist and her work is deeply connected to medicines, treatment and healing of the body and soul, as well as the environmental impact of the medical and pharmaceutical waste.

Peggy Kliafa graduated from the Athens School of Fine Arts – Department of Painting with major in Sculpture (2011/12) – Integrated Master Degree -, as well as from the Athens University of Economics and Business (ASOEE) – Department of Business Administration with major in Marketing (1990). She has participated in more than 60 group exhibitions and Art Fairs in Greece and abroad. Her artworks have been acquired by Public Collections/Museums in Greece as well as Foundations and Private Collections in Greece and abroad. She lives and works in Athens, Greece.