gnorimeet the locals "Elpida Chatzinikolaou"

gnorimeet the Locals // From the “Days of Thirst” Project

Elpida Chatzinikolaou
Transcendence – Sculptural Installation

Elpida Chatzinikolaou was born in 1998 in Athens. In 2018, she was admitted to the Preparatory School of Fine Arts in Panormos, Tinos, where she learned how to sculpt and express her ideas in marble. In 2021, she received a scholarship to the Athens School of Fine Arts, where she continues to study in the field of sculpture. In recent years, she has been living in Mandra and working in Elefsina.

The themes that emerge through her work are personal and primarily centered around women, as she is deeply engaged with the topic of womanhood, both as a gender and as a social role and position. She aims to intervene in visual perception by externalizing her emotions and raising questions rooted in them. During this project, her focus shifted toward a transition from an anthropocentric to an ecocentric worldview. In recent months, the station has become an active space, a creative hub open to all individuals.

The installation titled Transcendence focuses on simulating a room surrounded by sprouts emerging from the surfaces and the ground. This evokes the constant and persistent effort of the mind to grasp the idea that nature surrounds and contains art—leading to the realization that the two are one and the same.
The audience was invited to interact with and touch the work. An integral part of the exhibition’s completion was the placement of lentil seeds along the railway tracks and in parts of the station garden. The public planted the seeds together with the artist, and the deinstallation process also had a participatory nature.

Artist’s Statement:
Externalization is complete when the inner world becomes visible and perceptible to the senses. The perception of the aesthetic experience is directly linked to the image. What the viewer perceives reveals the unique nature of the aesthetic experience that the artist derives from viewing their own work. This uniqueness stems from the fact that the viewer does not merely observe a part of the natural or artificial world in which they live—but instead confronts a work of art, an object with a distinct ontological identity.
A substantial cognitive reserve was required: a wealth of information related to the process of creating the installation. Elefsina is characterized by diversity among its residents, both in terms of majorities and minorities.
Having the opportunity to present my work and make it accessible and approachable in a multicultural environment—along with everything that this concept entails—may be one of the greatest achievements an artist can experience.

My sincere thanks go to the Cultterra team for offering the station and for maintaining a continuous safe space for expression, to 2023 Eleusis, and to the entire public.