Resizing Artemis

One plus One: Petros Chrisostomou & Hannah Stippl

faveLAB Athens 2019

Fascinated by geometric Greek pottery, Hannah Stippl studied and copied ornaments in order to decipher the stories of people and gods, of plants, animals and landscapes depicted on the vases. In her paintings, Stippl interweaves patterns and collages into dense associative structures and shows a link between a landscape's reality and imaginary landscapes made up of patterns. 

The artist establishes unexpected connections and associations by examining the possibilities of meaning, knowledge and practice that are generated and transmitted through ornaments. Rather than presenting a factual reality, illusion is fabricated to conjure the realms of our imagination.Stippl investigates the concept of landscape and its limits by constructing an obscured, hindered view reminding of the way one looks at hidden spaces through layers of grids, fences, veils.

Hannah Stippl's interest in Greek antiquity began with the exploration of a plant, the genus Artemisia, connected to the name of the goddess Artemis and the myths of nymphs and sirens. In Athens retrieved their traces. The result is a series of works in which she combines ornamental elements such as meanders and floral patterns with fragments of text. The arrangement of the works shows a flexible poem that is not fixed in advance, but enables different readings.

"Resizing Artemis" tries to make her power as goddess of the wilderness tangible and visible, andher growing importance at a time when not only the wild nature but the earth is in danger.

TO ARTEMIS

HER WATERS - HER FORESTS - HER NYMPHS

THE VIRGIN'S FOREST - THE VIRGIN FOREST

DO NOT TOUCH THE WILDERNESS 

YOU MAY HEAR HER OR SENSE HER PRESENCE - BUT IT IS DANGEROUS TO VIOLATE HER - EVEN WITH THE EYES

ACCORDING TO PLUTARCH THE NYMPHS LIVE FOR 9720 YEARS

WHICH IS WHY ALL THE NYMPHS OF THE OLD WORLD - IF THEY EVER EXISTED

WOULD STILL HAVE TO STAND IN FULL BLOOM OF HER EXISTENCE

FEEL THE NEED FOR SACRED GROVES AND VIRGIN FORESTS

PLANT A TREE FOR ARTEMIS