Hellenic Heads: A Personal Exploration of Greek History and Culture over 2,500 Years
George Petrides presents Hellenic Heads: A Personal Exploration of Greek History and Culture over 2,500 Years. Petrides, a sculptor of Greek birth, selected six historical periods that are important to Greece’s heritage, combining extensive research with his own family members to pose for the six busts; on their bases, these sculptures stand over 2 meters tall. The six periods are:
Classical Greece (510 BC to 323 BC)
Byzantine Empire (330 AD to 1453 AD)
Greek War of Independence (1821 to 1829)
Destruction of Smyrna (1922)
Nazi occupation and Greek Civil War (1941 to 1949)
The Present
Petrides conducted rigorous research before sculpting each bust, including archaeological artifacts, academic sources, family stories, and historical photographs. Petrides sought out sculptural precedents for each period to study how they addressed similar themes, selecting one or two pieces to serve as touchstones. Then, he asked a family member to pose for him, some “live” and others, who had passed, through photographs and memory.
“[Petrides] conveys deeply personal narratives that provoke universal dialogues around key historical events that impact Greek culture and history. Traversing 2,500 years of Greek history, Petrides reveals trauma that is excruciatingly relevant today”
Hellenic Heads debuted at the Embassy of Greece to the USA in Washington, D.C. with over 2,000 people seeing it on Europe Day 2022. The exhibition then traveled to the National Hellenic Museum in Chicago, Illinois from July 21 to December 10, 2023. Hellenic Heads is soon to be on view at the Hellenic Institute in Venice, Italy.
Petrides has received wide recognition for Hellenic Heads, including coverage in Forbes and Brooklyn Rail, among others.
