CATALOGUE TEXT – 6TH THESSALONIKI BIENNALE 2017 – IMAGINED HOMES
Peggy Kliafa
Untitled, 2016
Installation
Photo: Iossifina Svania
Courtesy of the artist
Peggy Kliafa’s installation is part of a unit of independent works the artist has worked on over the course of a long period and in several variations. Kliafa utilizes empty pharmaceutical packaging to create constructions than revolve around emblematic motifs (such as rosettes and spirals) and techniques of Western art and, more specifically, Gothic cathedral architecture, predominantly that of stained glass.
The used packages are transformed into impressive, elaborate compositions, thanks to the decisive intervention of artificial, pure and warm light, which passes through their transparent texture. The compositions define holy, transcendental spaces, where one can be isolated, connect to the remotest sides of oneself, and communicate with the divine. The imaginative replacement of overpainted glass with empty pill packages -daily objects that are linked with controversial effects on human life with medication inextricably associated with prescription drug abuse- results in the transformation of the contents of the plastic packaging into the deified and dominant material of an imaginary refuge and a core element of people’s fate.