"Loves, fears and hopes" @ the Jail/Cell Residency, San Francisco, CA
A site-specific installation made in July -August 2015, while an Artist-in-Residence at the basement of the Jail/Cell Residency in San Francisco, CA.
From the Jail/Cell Residency website:
The culmination of Dimitra Skandali’s Jail Cell Residency is a site-specific installation titled, Loves, fears, and hopes. The sincere title refers to collapsing political systems and the social effects on individuals, culture, and heritage. From her perspective as a Greek citizen, Skandali looks at the transformational undercurrents in her country during its struggle to survive. She sees our current era as a time of widespread deconstruction and aims to push against it by channeling spirit and vital history.
Skandali has embedded her installation into the basement-level architecture and surrounding space by activating existing marks and structures. With a detailed examination and intervention, spots in the concrete floor where paint has peeled, are now representative of tiny islands floating on the larger surface. Islands play a pivotal role both formally and conceptually as symbols of the individual searching for validation in the face of adversity. The exhibition is built from everyday household objects and natural materials due to their low cost and ease of acquiring. Within the physical Jail Cell, the artist constructed an intricate web of steel wool interlaced with wire forms and strands of seaweed inspired by maps that her father would take on his fishing trips. Skandali remains fixated on the grace and freedom of light as an aid in renewal and a beacon in darkness.
Dimensions of the main installation : 8 x 22 x 24 feet (h x w x d)
Dimensions of the space entering the main installation (where the emergency blankets are): 8 x 10 x 7.5 feet (h x w x d)
Please, read an article by Sarah Hotchikiss and KQED Arts, who, with the occasion of a 3-day maritime extravaganza at the Monterey Aquarium featured the "profiles of 10 Bay Area artists mining the depths of that same ocean" including the above piece along with other very inspiring artists:
Bay Area Artists Dive into the Big Blue, Aug. 2015: http://ww2.kqed.org/arts/2015/08/31/bay-area-artists-dive-into-the-big-blue/
July -August 2015