Artist Maria Papadimitriou explores the theme of undocumented travelers and refugees compelled to forms of obscurity and concealment. [...]

Working within this framework of anonymity Papadimitriou bypasses all external physical traits and works solely with the representation of the traveler’s internal makeup, mainly the non-corporeal substance inherent in all mankind. The Murano glass vases, shining, transparent and solid embody the seat of the travelers’ intellectual and emotional power. The inimitability of each piece in its varying shapes corresponds to a single entity transformed and altered by personal stories, and is thus as invaluable as it is irreplaceable. Broken shards mark the brittleness of this material presenting Papadimitriou’s sea as a solid patchwork of lost histories. [...]

In contrast to the brittle Murano pieces stands the unyielding strength of the metallic boat, its austere aluminum outline and solid form representing the threat of force located in the networks of power governing life. This is the “Apparatus,” the body of relations responsible for the inclusion and the exclusion of life from the governance of law [...]. These Murano bodies thus come to represent today’s equivalent of an outlaw – a subject whose right to life was negated, banned and destined to die.

Maria Halkias

Excerpts from “Apparatus,” in exh. cat. The Mediterranean Approach.