Sculpture as a form of art and a myth-oral tradition both act as a common basis and creative starting point for the personal, special, sensitive and at the same time dynamic artistic gestures by 14 contemporary women artists in the exhibition entitled "Contemporary Womanhood 1.0: present femininities" at MOMus-Museum Alex Mylona in Athens, from 06 July to 08 October 2023.
The exhibition, which is hosted intentionally at the department of contemporary sculpture of MOMus, a museum founded by the woman sculptor Alex Mylona, an intangible connection of the transition from modern to contemporary is attempted, not only in sculpture but also in creation and life itself.
The main pillar of the exhibition's research is the work of the psychoanalyst and activist Clarissa Pinkola Estés, and more specifically her book entitled "Women Who Run with the Wolves". Through intuitive, explorative and cathartic myths related to the untamed nature of women, the author brings tales from the past to the modern era. This exhibition focuses on the best-known story from Inuit’s oral tradition – the Skeleton Woman. According to the legend, a woman who experiences absolute despair and lives as a monstrous creature underwater, manages to keep the essence of her being intact and eventually reborn, through the power of transformation.
The triptych of life – death – death described in the myth making death a transitory path of transmutation, transformation and mutation, acts as a common thread for the axes that run throughout the exhibition: sculpture, the artistic gesture, the position of the female artist, and the mutation of it all from established ideas and entrenched, inaccessible and rigid standards to something more fluid, new and ultimately alive again.
Artists: Mirsini Artakianou, Despina Charitonidi, Nicole Economides, Nikomachi Karakostanoglou, Mariandrie, Natalia Manta, Esmeralda Momferratou, Natalia Papadopoulou, Harikleia Papapostolou, Nana Sachini, Johnna Sachpazis, Sophia Saranti, Marina Velisioti, Dimitra Zervou
Curated by: Faidra Vasileiadou, museologist - art curator
