Lila Cambani, Maria Cyber, Lara Gasparotto, Nan Goldin, Renate Graf,
Maria Mavropoulou, Margarita Myrogianni, Ioulia Panoutsopoulos, Loreal Prystaj,
Anna Samara, Marina Velisioti, Chantal Vey

PHOTOGRAPHY SAVED MY LIFE

04 April – 01 June 2024

Curated by Myrto Kakara and Molly Andrianou

press release

Photography saved my life
Dates: 4 April – 18 May 2024

Curated by Myrto Kakara and Molly Andrianou

My camera has saved my life. It has made bearable things that feel unbearable.
Nan Goldin

With the group exhibition “Photography saved my life”, Crux Galerie brings together ways in which 12 contemporary women artists make use of the medium of photography, in order to reveal marginalised areas, unseen urban cultures, concealed nuances of sexuality, or questions about their identity.

The works demonstrate solidarity and unconditional acceptance of all aspects of human emotion: shame, fear, pain, trauma, love, tenderness. Some of the works explore the female identity through a fetishistic view and an idolisation of objects and places intertwined with female sexuality. Others bear references to contemporary
myths, domestic environments, unseen or imagined landscapes, technical material applications and scientific technologies of representation.

Ultimately, the participating artists practice care through their images. Each of these works serves as a recognition of the successes and adversities they encountered on their paths, and act as tokens of their survival, strength and conquests.

Participating artists: Lila Cambani, Maria Cyber, Lara Gasparotto, Nan Goldin, Renate Graf, Maria Mavropoulou, Margarita Myrogianni, Ioulia Panoutsopoulos, Loreal Prystaj, Anna Samara, Marina Velisioti, Chantal Vey

About the works:

Lila Cambani’s intimate depictions explore her identity through a fetishist gaze and an idolization of objects intertwined with female sexuality.

Maria Cyber’s work is dominated by her spontaneous and honest photographic gaze, throughout her entire journey of accepting her own and her photographic subjects’ identity. Here, she looks at a young woman with an unapologetic look of innocence in lust.

Lara Gasparotto shows the care of the everyday through her images. Whether it is documentation of her experience, a scene of her reality or a representation of a relationship, she attempts a journey into different intimate realities.

An advocate for raw depictions of the entire span of emotion, Nan Goldin’s photography includes all kinds of human expressions in a compassionate and honest way.

In her landscape depictions, Renate Graf attempts to witness reality and to build her own language of describing the vast cultural variety she encounters.

Maria Mavropoulou employs various digital imaging technologies in her work, in order to highlight and comment on our contemporary ways of perceiving reality through digital environments.

Margarita Myrogianni presents staged photographs, each of which bears the characteristics of a still life, with objects and architectural elements in the leading role.

Ioulia Panoutsopoulos’ works can be seen as gestural light drawings. The absence  of scale and the intensity of the material raise questions around photography as a medium on an existential level.

Through storytelling and artistic methods rooted in archetypal symbolism and surrealism, Loreal Prystaj immerses (or captures) herself in her photography to explore her subconscious, uncovering the psychological imprint of both natural and domestic environments and revealing internal states of life, death, and rebirth.

Thermal imaging technology, which is commonly used to locate missing people, is used in Anna Samara’s work to reveal the tenderness behind the steel armour that conceals (or protects?) the wearer’s femininity.

Marina Velisioti reaches for the unseen, the mystery, the myth, the rumour, by revisiting locations of alleged alien sightings.

Chantal Vey explores territories with strong links to (male) histories. Here, she presents a poetic gesture in the form of a still film, based on places from Pier Paolo Pasolini’s travel diary “The Long Road of Sand”.

installation views

1/10

artworks

Lila Cambani, <i>Therapy</i>, 2000, C-print on paper, 60x40 cm

Lila Cambani, Therapy, 2000, C-print on paper, 60x40 cm

Lila Campani, <i>Talons 1</i>, 1997, C-print on paper, 120x80 cm

Lila Campani, Talons 1, 1997, C-print on paper, 120x80 cm

Lila Campani, <i>Talons 2</i>, 1997, C-print on paper, 120x80 cm

Lila Campani, Talons 2, 1997, C-print on paper, 120x80 cm

Nan Goldin, <i>Misty doing her make-up, Paris</i>, 1991, cibachrome, 51x61 cm

Nan Goldin, Misty doing her make-up, Paris, 1991, cibachrome, 51x61 cm

Ioulia Panoutsopoulos, <i>Slivers and Shard</i>, 2017, gelatin silver hand printed photograph, 118x83 cm

Ioulia Panoutsopoulos, Slivers and Shard, 2017, gelatin silver hand printed photograph, 118x83 cm

Ioulia Panoutsopoulos, <i>Grainy Space Time with Late Light</i>, 2015, gelatin silver hand printed photograph, 87x93 cm

Ioulia Panoutsopoulos, Grainy Space Time with Late Light, 2015, gelatin silver hand printed photograph, 87x93 cm

Loreal Prystaj, <i>Flora Ornamental #5</i>, 2018, Giclée Baryta print, 90x63 cm

Loreal Prystaj, Flora Ornamental #5, 2018, Giclée Baryta print, 90x63 cm

Loreal Prystaj, <i>Untitled (Serpent)</i>, 2022, C-type print (gloss), 29.7x42 cm

Loreal Prystaj, Untitled (Serpent), 2022, C-type print (gloss), 29.7x42 cm

Maria Mavropoulou, <i>Trophy I (from the Hollow Garden series)</i>, 2021, archival print, 70x53 cm

Maria Mavropoulou, Trophy I (from the Hollow Garden series), 2021, archival print, 70x53 cm

Maria Mavropoulou, <i>Trophy II (from the Hollow Garden series)</i>, 2021, archival print, 70x53 cm

Maria Mavropoulou, Trophy II (from the Hollow Garden series), 2021, archival print, 70x53 cm

Maria Mavropoulou, <i>The Average of Everything (from the Image Eaters series)</i>, 2019, archival print, 120x80 cm

Maria Mavropoulou, The Average of Everything (from the Image Eaters series), 2019, archival print, 120x80 cm

Anna Samara, <i>Ghost Notes</i>, 2024, oil on canvas, 100x70 cm

Anna Samara, Ghost Notes, 2024, oil on canvas, 100x70 cm

Chantal Vey, <i>La Pineta di Cecina</i>, 2022, digital video, duration 28.38 min

Chantal Vey, La Pineta di Cecina, 2022, digital video, duration 28.38 min

Maria Cyber, <i>Athens</i>, 2003, print on paper, 45.5x61 cm

Maria Cyber, Athens, 2003, print on paper, 45.5x61 cm

Lara Gasparoto, <i>Luna and François</i>, 2023, inkjet print on Hahnemühle photo rag, 70x50 cm

Lara Gasparoto, Luna and François, 2023, inkjet print on Hahnemühle photo rag, 70x50 cm

Lara Gasparoto, <i>Margaux and Martin, San Fransisco</i>, 2013, inkjet print on Hahnemühle photo rag, 70x50 cm

Lara Gasparoto, Margaux and Martin, San Fransisco, 2013, inkjet print on Hahnemühle photo rag, 70x50 cm

Margarita Myrogianni, <i>New Form of Communication I</i>, 2024, C-print on paper, 55x55 cm

Margarita Myrogianni, New Form of Communication I, 2024, C-print on paper, 55x55 cm

Margarita Myrogianni, <i>New Form of Communication II</i>, 2024, C-print on paper, 55x55 cm

Margarita Myrogianni, New Form of Communication II, 2024, C-print on paper, 55x55 cm

Marina Velisioti, <i>Blue Springs</i>, 2014, collage on postcard, 14x21 cm

Marina Velisioti, Blue Springs, 2014, collage on postcard, 14x21 cm

Marina Velisioti, <i>Trout lakes in the San Juan Mountains</i>, 2014, collage on postcard, 26.5x17.5 cm

Marina Velisioti, Trout lakes in the San Juan Mountains, 2014, collage on postcard, 26.5x17.5 cm

Marina Velisioti, <i>Yellow Falls</i>, 2014, collage on postcard, 14x21 cm

Marina Velisioti, Yellow Falls, 2014, collage on postcard, 14x21 cm

inquire
1/21
inquire







Asset 1
Lila Cambani, <i>Therapy</i>, 2000, C-print on paper, 60x40 cm
Lila Campani, <i>Talons 1</i>, 1997, C-print on paper, 120x80 cm
Lila Campani, <i>Talons 2</i>, 1997, C-print on paper, 120x80 cm
Nan Goldin, <i>Misty doing her make-up, Paris</i>, 1991, cibachrome, 51x61 cm
Ioulia Panoutsopoulos, <i>Slivers and Shard</i>, 2017, gelatin silver hand printed photograph, 118x83 cm
Ioulia Panoutsopoulos, <i>Grainy Space Time with Late Light</i>, 2015, gelatin silver hand printed photograph, 87x93 cm
Loreal Prystaj, <i>Flora Ornamental #5</i>, 2018, Giclée Baryta print, 90x63 cm
Loreal Prystaj, <i>Untitled (Serpent)</i>, 2022, C-type print (gloss), 29.7x42 cm
Maria Mavropoulou, <i>Trophy I (from the Hollow Garden series)</i>, 2021, archival print, 70x53 cm
Maria Mavropoulou, <i>Trophy II (from the Hollow Garden series)</i>, 2021, archival print, 70x53 cm
Maria Mavropoulou, <i>The Average of Everything (from the Image Eaters series)</i>, 2019, archival print, 120x80 cm
Anna Samara, <i>Ghost Notes</i>, 2024, oil on canvas, 100x70 cm
Chantal Vey, <i>La Pineta di Cecina</i>, 2022, digital video, duration 28.38 min
Maria Cyber, <i>Athens</i>, 2003, print on paper, 45.5x61 cm
Lara Gasparoto, <i>Luna and François</i>, 2023, inkjet print on Hahnemühle photo rag, 70x50 cm
Lara Gasparoto, <i>Margaux and Martin, San Fransisco</i>, 2013, inkjet print on Hahnemühle photo rag, 70x50 cm
Margarita Myrogianni, <i>New Form of Communication I</i>, 2024, C-print on paper, 55x55 cm
Margarita Myrogianni, <i>New Form of Communication II</i>, 2024, C-print on paper, 55x55 cm
Marina Velisioti, <i>Blue Springs</i>, 2014, collage on postcard, 14x21 cm
Marina Velisioti, <i>Trout lakes in the San Juan Mountains</i>, 2014, collage on postcard, 26.5x17.5 cm
Marina Velisioti, <i>Yellow Falls</i>, 2014, collage on postcard, 14x21 cm