Through a multidisciplinary approach, Martha’s artistic practice revolves around the possibilities of the psyche/soma during the contemporary era, when both human and other-than-human entities are found in a fragile and precarious situation. Her inspirations derive from the analysis of myths, rituals, customs and scientific facts seen through hydro-feminist, eco-feminist, eco-psychological and animistic approaches. Through her practice she aims to challenge anthropocentric and patriarchal perspectives that are dominant in the contemporary western world and further more, to dissolve the boundaries between human and other-than-human worlds, between nature and culture. In her projects, archetypes, symbols or rituals are often redefined in an attempt to create multi-sensory universes, usually in the form of sculptural installations. Martha likes to see her works as ‘mediators’ between the physical world and our own bodies. The elements she uses are usually chosen because of their properties that stimulate a sense other than eyesight. The desire to touch, to listen, to smell or to taste awaken one’s perception. This is not only about the actual act of touching, smelling, listening or tasting but about the possibility of these happening. Driven by an anxiety about fragile tomorrows, her works seek for liquid, matriarchal, inter-species, symbiotic worlds as a way of saving and healing a damaged planet with radical love, care and fearlessness.
Martha Panagiotopoulou (b.1991, Athens, Greece) is a multi-media artist currently based in Athens. She holds an MFA from Glasgow School of Art with distinction, and a Diploma of Architecture from the National Technical University of Athens. Her work has been exhibited both outdoors and in indoors spaces like GoMA. She has recently been awarded the NEON scholarship prize and her work was shortlisted and will be included at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP26).
Photo by Panos Astor Koffas