Memory Mapping (NEW YORK) - Brooch, 2017 (Photo: Kalliopi Andrikopoulou)
Soul, follow the map to reach eternal bliss!
There is one figure that stands strong through centuries of change, from the Neolithic to the modern civilization. It is the great goddess, the one with many names, the source of life and death, the keeper of knowledge and healer of the soul.
She depicts the phases of the moon, the stages of fertility, the seasons of the crop, the stages of consciousness and cultivation of wisdom. She is Kore, Demeter, Ekati or Athena, Aphrodite and Hera.
She is the Virgin, Mary the mother of Jesus, or the mythical modern Superwoman. Forever cherished and forever unveiled.
She is the drive behind an esoteric quest, the force to conceive the whole, the essence of life.
The Initiates of Eleusina felt rejuvenated and reassured in their belief in life after they have witnessed the secret.
But what was it, that in a two thousand year long cult was never fully disclosed, if not the places ones soul traveled through the mysteries?
What is it than one cannot express with words, if not the quests of the spirit?
For Initiation - Kallichoron I am presenting "Soul maps" along with "Memory Maps" - they are the stepping stones of a journey.
Maybe our paths have crossed and we can begin our storytelling...
www.kalliopiandrikopoulou.com
Wheely Frame Part II Performance piece - 2018 (Photo: Lisa Brown)
Focus, Jolly Frog, Spectrum
The movement of a transient life inspires me.
Through this body of work, I investigate the paths that Athenians took as part of the Initiation process leading to a life of enlightenment.
I am reminded that the history of an ancient past affects the population globally, generation after generation. The myths, culture, rituals derived and practiced from thousands of years ago still resound in the trials and tribulations of today’s world.
We cannot forget the past as it part of us. Today we must move forward with the support of the past to create a past for the future.
We are all wanderers searching for answers. Like a wheel our lives, our world is a cycle.
www.vivienbedwell.com
Transforming - Brooch, 2017 (Photo: Miran Kambič)
Transforming
The art installation "Transforming" connects the Greek goddess Demeter, her symbols and characteristic with the today’s changes that are being developed in the field of sustainable development. The focus is on some of the Sustainable Development Goals, the resolution adopted by the United Nations Sustainable Development Summit on 25 September 2015 in New York, named Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
This Agenda is a plan of action for people, planet and prosperity. It also seeks to strengthen universal peace in larger freedom. The resolution wants to resolve to free the human race from the tyranny of poverty to secure our planet, before it is to late.
The art installation Transforming is focused on some of the 2030 Agenda issues with the roots in Greek mythology, especially the stories about Demeter, Persphone, Zeus and Hades. It explores different aspects of mysterious feminie, persistence, erosion and creation of nature. It focusses on some of the Agenda 2030 goals such as zero hunger, good health and well being, clean water and sanitation, climate action, ...
MANIFESTO:
1 Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
2 Green your jewellery
3 Use sustainable materials
4 Choose Fair Trade certified goods
5 Think green
6 Use your jewellery voice, be loud!
www.petrabole.com
Sacred profane - Jewellery object, 2018 (Photo: Federico Cavicchioli)
Sacred profane
you are shattered in Greece,
enlightened in awe and distress.
you feel like a humbled,
tiny big bug in this game of chess.
the agony of being alive
not quite knowing what for.
with hope or doubt that there's more.
linen as clay in your hands
fleeting away
taking its own mindful path
never to return
quite the same.
www.dariaborovkova.com
Started Growing in the Dark - Brooch, 2018 (Photo: Satomi Kawai)
ROOTED
She asked me: "where are you?"
I said: "I am always with you. I am rooted."
My current collection "Rooted" will be featured at "Initiation III - Kallichoron."
Femininity has been the center themes of my jewellery, examining the physical, psychological, and emotional layers of my womanhood shifting from Japan to North America. Now is the time for new femininity.
My new approach started at the artist residency workshop in Athens, Greece to examine the universal quality of femininity through the story of the Greek Goddess mother, Demeter, and the loss of her daughter. How the mother goddess took care of the young, her deep sorrow at her daughter’s kidnapping, and her joy when her daughter returned.
During the workshop, I found myself revisiting my childhood and how that relates to my identity and value. I have also discovered through this process through body movement, which is becoming my new personal methodology as an extension of body adornments.
At the show opening, I will be performing a contemporary Demeter with the life of sorrow and joy.
www.satomikawai.com
mon/tue/wed/thu/fri/sat/sun - choker, 2018 (Photo: Hugo Rompa)
Women have the power over the fertility forces inside their body!
Eleusinian mysteries provided initiates a better understanding of the meaning of life and death.
Goddesses Demeter and her daughter Persephone, the two great goddesses of the Eleusinian Mysteries, ruled over the forces of nature and governed life, death and rebirth.
By discovering medical therapies and tools that can prolong life and even help give birth or prevent conception, mankind, in a way, has managed to take on the role of Demeter and Persephone.
For Initiation 2018 - Kallichoron I therefore chose to present work containing safe medical waste that showcase and celebrate this role, as well as gynecological materials that give women the power to be in charge of the fertility forces inside their body. By adding precious materials traditionally used for jewels - like fresh water pearls, precious metals - these used materials are transformed into valuable jewels, connecting life and death in a fête de vie.
www.evavankempen.com
Internal Smile - Brooch, 2018 (Photo: B. Klekachkoska)
And mourning Demeter laughed once again
The Internal smile brooch is part of the series "Wearable Memories".
Here I am combining two natural but contrasting materials and techniques: silver filigree as a base of the brooch and hand painted silk for the pillow.
The piece is telling the "between the legs" story of Baubo, a mythical woman of Eleusis, who lifts her skirt to show her vulva and thus makes Demeter laugh once again. Her laughter helps restore fertility to a world threatened with barrenness by her grief. The soft pillow invites the wearer/observer to touch/peek through, dream and remember the sacred days of the Goddess.
I am a jeweler and artist. Originally inspired by traditional filigree art, I employ new approaches to this ancient technique. The results are uniquely designed, delicately handcrafted pieces of jewelry.
My jewelry journey is a constant exploration of techniques/materials, but simultaneously of inner/outer spaces and borders - finding ways of connecting/crossing them, creating a jewelry language that captures and communicates the most intimate states and emotions.
www.facebook.com/bipart.jewels
Untitled ('Unknown Series') - Feather body sculpture, 2018 (Photo: Dafydd Williams)
A secret beyond words
Recent projects explore notions of dark emotions, hidden secrets and the uncanny, the ability to be both drawn and repelled all at once.
The relationship between beauty and death is a recurring theme. The work is tied to the idea of the monstrous, in a state of becoming; or a state of emotion, the forms are a mutation of an alternative body and animal. These creatures are metamorphosing; they are alive and dead, artificial and real, familiar and strange. The monster shows itself as something that is not yet shown, that is not yet known.
The attraction to explore Greek mythology is an obvious choice. The work investigated here draws on imagery of the gods and monsters, of mythical winged creatures and chimeras, the boundary between the upper and underworld. The initiates kept a secret for 2000 years, if revealed it would result in death, a secret that cannot be excavated, is impossible to put into words, it is beyond logic, it is also unknown or lost, but is the secret that there is in fact no secret?
Anna Lewis is a Welsh based designer maker and educator. Working across the fields of contemporary jewellery and fashion object.
www.annalewisdesign.com
Inherit The Stars - Ring, 2018 (Photo: Emily Chang)
Stars are the silent witnesses of the mysteries
Though time has gone by, the ancient gods can still be recognized by the believer. Their image might be transformed, but if you look carefully at certain signs and symbols, you may see the true identity of the deities suggested.
However, people from various cultures and beliefs may look at the same object and yet see a different thing. So the truth is ambiguous; like we will never know what initiates saw during the Eleusinian Mysteries that changed their life forever. The truth is lost but it is "the quest for unveiling the secret which is more inspiring than the secret itself."
I use "stars" as my theme, for they represent gods and heroes in Greek mythology and are named after them in contemporary astronomy. As we see stars shining in the distance, we can see them as one object, as a single line, as a cluster or even imagine they form a certain form with a story or intention behind it. The stars, like the excavation relics at the archaeological site in Eleusina, are also the few remaining witness of the Mysteries that took place two thousand years ago.
www.facebook.com/KIWIontheroad
Swing - Necklace, 2017 (Photo: Stelios Demetriou)
Initiation to the mysteries of childhood
Swings are very popular among children. However, swings are also mystical devices oscillating like a pendulum between heaven and earth; imagining their movement helps us cross the border between here and after, between childhood and adult life.
Panayiotis Panayi presents his latest work "Swings" from the series Nostalgy. The jewellery refers to the Athenian child who incarnated the son of Persephone and future savior of the world during the Eleusinian Mysteries.
Through his "Swings", Panayi reflects on his childhood in Cyprus and the games he played with his friends in a world shaken by the tragedy of 1974, though not yet dominated by digital games and alienation. For the artist, his childhood memories are a source of strength and his creative refuge.
www.panayiotispanayi.com
Υπερ Βωμων Και Εστιων - Pectoral, 2018 (Photo: C. Ziegler)
ΥΠΕΡ ΒΩΜΩΝ ΚΑΙ ΕΣΤΙΩΝ - For our altars and for our home
Greek historians Herodotus and Plutarch describe how Demeter fought in the sea battle of Salamis.
It was during the Great Mysteries in 470 BC that the Greeks defended their country – their altars and their homes – against the Persian invasion at the sea straights between the shore of Eleusina and the island of Salamis.
There were no initiates to pilfer to Eleusina that year. The soft-spoken goddess of agriculture performed the secret ceremony herself and then put on her armor and fought ΥΠΕΡ ΒΩΜΩΝ ΚΑΙ ΕΣΤΙΩΝ.
Two ways of looking at life collided on the battle field of Salamis.
Under which conditions, would you stand up and and fight for your values?
www.zlr-betriebsimperium.com
Tree House - Brooch, 2018 (Photo: Wallin Anders)
Enter the adyton of my "Tree House" to meet your destiny
Plant and tree deities have been venerated for thousand of years in Greece.
Myrtle, olive, fig are sacred trees to be found in direct connection to the Eleusinian Mysteries.
The secret of the mysteries was revealed inside the little house (Adyton) the goddess had dwelled after her wanderings. Inside it, the initiates, crowned with myrtle wreaths, would experience bliss and wealth for all eternity.
My "Tree House" is a symbol of abundance and eternal life. It is about the ways an eager spirit will find its destiny and meaning.
In Greek culture, life is understood as a journey full of adventures and learning; life is a journey with infinite possibilities to discover our own destiny. My "Tree House" is made in one continuous line symbolizing the endless growing, changing, developing of the eternal soul.
www.tingsjewellery.com
Planimetry - Brooch, 2018 (Photo: Martina Turini)
The tangibility of the Mysteries
When you visit an archeological site, its duality is striking.
Never a place has been so much of two opposites at the same time.
The hardness of stone reflects the impermanence of lives and gestures; sometimes the stories of those impermanences are inscribed on stone itself.
In Eleusina, the imaginative qualities of the Mysteries take shape in the stability of architecture. There is a paradoxical tangible proof of a Mystery that isn’t tangible at all.
When we are told Persephone was brought underground in a specific point, the myth is not only inscribed on paper, but on landscape. Myth becomes reality through the presence of a physical space.
History and imagination coagulate in one place; the scientific truth of the archaeological site exist together- or because of- the invisibility of the rituals which were performed there.
My aim is to illustrate both invisibility and tangibility felt and seen in Eleusina.
www.martinaturini.com
VOOR TANTE EVA - ASSEMBLAGE, 2017 (Photo: LILIANE LACASSE)
A COLLECTION OF WORDS
EVERYTHING CAN BE A JEWEL
AND EVERYTHING IS A JEWEL
A BROKEN POCKET KNIFE
OR A CHICKEN BONE
SEE THE DEEPER MEANING
DEPENDING ON HOW ITS SHOWN
ELEVATING THE MATTER
MAKING IT INTO SPIRIT
SEEMINGLY WORTHLESS THINGS
AT ONCE BECOME VERY VALUABLE
IMPRISONED IN A BOX
THEY ARE MADE INTO A SECRET
SEE THE DEEPER MEANING
GIVE THE VIEWER FREEDOM
YELLOW GOLD AND PAPER
GOLDEN FRAME AND BONE
MEMORIES OF BAD DREAMS
SCREAMING IN REAL SPACE
SHARING LOVELY THOUGHTS
WHILE GIVING LOVE TO OTHERS
www.danielvonweinberger.weebly.com
Smart Hot Sugar Wheel - Brooch, 2018 (Photo: Christoph Ziegler)
Drinking from the fountain of knowledge
Facing death without fear and altering the level of consciousness were emotional and physical processes at the very core of the Eleusinian Mysteries.
Christoph Ziegler presents a series of melted plastic mandalas to reflect the abolishment of the boundaries between time and space, form and color, object and function the mystics experienced inside the Sanctuary. Like the kykeon, the brooches remind us that only the ones who leave behind truisms will drink from the fountain of knowledge.
Ziegler's recent work highlights the core of the Mysteries, when the Hierophant, the high priest, revealed the secret of immortality by showing objects, uttering words and performing movements in front of the initiates.
Our soul is capable of merging the spiritual with the profane with the outmost innocence in the critical moments of swinging between life and death. Thus, the message of the Eleusinian Mysteries lives on, even if it takes a different form in each different context.
www.zlr-betriebsimperium.com
Planets - Bracelet, 2018 (Photo: Nikolas Adam Manaios)
Zeus as the father of heaven, earth, waters and man
There's no life without water, nothing moves, nothing grows.
A woman collects water in her cupped hands and fills the jars of memory. The water surface reflects faces, light and sky, trees and fruits.
In the Eleusinian myth, Zeus - God and generating energy of all things, as his name suggests – allows Hades/Death to take his own child. Thus, Persephone, born immortal by two immortal parents, Zeus and Demeter, will taste death in the pomegranate seeds; she will rise again and give birth to the savior of mankind.
In the Mokume made "Zeus Collection" all things move rotating around their axis prompting us to walk forward, even if we risk falling into the water.
www.evzo.tictail.com
Curated by FaveLAB 2018