Belonging, in my eyes, is what propels me to continue creating art. I want to belong to art history and to leave my mark on this earth after I am gone. I want to leave evidence of where I have been and with whom I have interacted. This is why I depict my experience as a first generation immigrant, middle class, and queer youth through representations of my environment.

 

My practice is interdisciplinary. With the means of photography as preparatory work, I single out the subtleties that others may dismiss as ordinary in order to give these moments importance and value. I use institutions as my primary source of inspiration because many people frequent these spaces. I explore the view of community through these organizations: be it the cinema, the museum, the university. Businesses such as these are regimented to ensure efficiency and eliminate uncertainty. Even though many people gather in these social spaces, it is easy to feel isolated in this type of extreme structure. My aim in art is to capture that otherness, and bring it to the forefront for the viewer.

 

Along with this thematic, my work relates to notions of displacement, adaptability and experimentation. I draw links from my parent’s immigration from Greece to Canada with my current status as an employee at Cineplex Laval, to demonstrate the human will to adapt to new environments and to prosper one’s personal sense of community.

 

Although my methodology is quite consistent, the materials that I consider for my work are used in experimental ways. I employ varying formal combinations and painting techniques within singular projects, to breathe fresh air in traditional/outdated mediums.