W.H.A.L.E.: Waves Hold A Lasting Echo
2019, solo show, National Archaeological Museum café, curated by Anastasia Valiri (Athens, GR)
A series of 13 visual works and a poem that were originally created for and presented at the National Archaeological Museum café (Athens, GR) on May 2019.
Inspired by the story of the 52Hz whale, this series challenges the concept of selfhood as a solid entity. Subjectivity is being deconstructed and replaced by a fragmented version of itself with ever-changing features, reimagined as a discontinuity or a dashed line.
“That's quite the conundrum”, she thought to herself
- and that, you should know,
was a gross understatement -
as she was aware, I must assume,
of the cow and the elephant in the next room
and yet,
surprisingly so,
she would secretly grow
fond of these freakishly odd get – togethers
and she'd spend hours
trying to make sure
she was not missing any
of her newly attached feathers,
her shinny fish scales
or her long sharpened claws
the stakes were high
and that was because
for years on end
she found herself
in this exhaustingly strange situation
of being
largely different but not quite unique
born with the wrong mouth
with no words to speak
left with these two useless one-of-a-kind skills
that never helped her pay the bills
that gave her nightmares many a time
and had her running for the hills
first,
she could sing in perfect pitch
a high A-flat no one could hear
but more than that
for each A-flat
uttered in fear and left unheard
her face would inch by inch fade out
and in a flash would disappear
- and that, you should know,
was a gross understatement -
as she was aware, I must assume,
of the cow and the elephant in the next room
and yet,
surprisingly so,
she would secretly grow
fond of these freakishly odd get – togethers
and she'd spend hours
trying to make sure
she was not missing any
of her newly attached feathers,
her shinny fish scales
or her long sharpened claws
the stakes were high
and that was because
for years on end
she found herself
in this exhaustingly strange situation
of being
largely different but not quite unique
born with the wrong mouth
with no words to speak
left with these two useless one-of-a-kind skills
that never helped her pay the bills
that gave her nightmares many a time
and had her running for the hills
first,
she could sing in perfect pitch
a high A-flat no one could hear
but more than that
for each A-flat
uttered in fear and left unheard
her face would inch by inch fade out
and in a flash would disappear
last but not least,
the second skill
she had perfected over the years
- warning: do not try this at home -
would often fill her up with tears
she'd close her eyes
start spinning 'round
52 circles in a second
and in this crazy whirl of pain
her hands were nowhere to be found
and knowing how it was all in vain
she would collapse crying on the ground
and
although it would seem quite fair
to think this ghostly sort of creature,
inside this vortex of despair,
with no distinguishable feature
is just a constant waste of breath
you should think twice
'cause
trying to decide what to wear
can take an awful lot of time
and climbing down from open windows
requires practice and precision
and there's this one kind of incision
no steady hand could ever make
but hers
unstable shaky ones
with the wrong number of fingers
and a loud touch that lingers
by Sofia Rozaki
the second skill
she had perfected over the years
- warning: do not try this at home -
would often fill her up with tears
she'd close her eyes
start spinning 'round
52 circles in a second
and in this crazy whirl of pain
her hands were nowhere to be found
and knowing how it was all in vain
she would collapse crying on the ground
and
although it would seem quite fair
to think this ghostly sort of creature,
inside this vortex of despair,
with no distinguishable feature
is just a constant waste of breath
you should think twice
'cause
trying to decide what to wear
can take an awful lot of time
and climbing down from open windows
requires practice and precision
and there's this one kind of incision
no steady hand could ever make
but hers
unstable shaky ones
with the wrong number of fingers
and a loud touch that lingers
by Sofia Rozaki
︎ On may 2020, in light of the coronavirus outbreak, the artist staged an extended online version of W.H.A.L.E., including a sonic piece (composed by her) visitors were encouraged to listen to while viewing the show.
