PPS-3Agiou Georgiou Square, Municipality of Neo Psychiko
Open image
Detail · tap
Neo Psychiko, Athens, Greece
Refugee — Woman of Smyrna
Agiou Georgiou Square, Municipality of Neo Psychiko
Historical referenceThe catastrophe of Smyrna, September 1922 · The sculptor's maternal grandmother
Refugee-Woman of Smyrna stands in Neo Psychiko, Athens. The work connects a public place with the artist’s family history and the experience of displacement.
ReferencePPS-3
CollectionAgiou Georgiou Square, Municipality of Neo Psychiko
SectorGovernment
Year2022
StatusInstalled
Height132 cm excl. base
Max. width100 cm
MaterialBronze metal coating with custom patina over a PETG body
Agiou Georgiou Square, Municipality of Neo Psychiko
Installation view: Agiou Georgiou Square, Neo Psychiko, with the artistDetail: bronze metal coating and custom patina
Purpose
To mark the centennial of the destruction of Smyrna in September 1922, in an Athenian neighbourhood shaped by refugee history.
Figure, material and scale
The Refugee head from the Hellenic Heads cycle, enlarged and adapted into a monumental public sculpture: 132 cm high without its base and 100 cm wide, in a bronze metal coating with custom patina over a PETG body. It is modelled on the sculptor’s maternal grandmother, Maria, who fled burning Smyrna in 1922; Michelangelo’s Rondanini Pietà served as a sculptural precedent.
Setting and audience
Agiou Georgiou Square in Neo Psychiko, an open public square used daily by residents and passers-by. Viewers have told the artist that they see their own grandmothers in her face.
Studio’s role
Modelled in clay, 3D-scanned and refined digitally, printed at scale and hand-finished in metals and patinas in the Petrides studio.
Relationship
Installed in Agiou Georgiou Square, Municipality of Neo Psychiko; unveiled September 2022.
Open image
Detail · tap