Your Love Kills/Η Αγαπη σου Σκοτωνει
lovekills

‘Love Kills’ photo shop illustration by Angela Zafiris

Lovekills1

Being loved can give us strength, but if the wrong person is loving us, then it can kill us.. so be careful who you give your heart out to.

The inspiration behind my digital collage was the ‘Economist’ magazine cover featuring the Greek goddess of love Aphrodite holding a pistol aimed at-not at me but at the German Chancellor Angela Merkel.  The image of Aphrodite de milo as well as her reputation has suffered rampant abuse by many European publications in recent years. Her image ‘hijacked’, and defaced to serve up hostile messages from science and business magazines that were targeting financially strapped Greece.  The irony in all this is that we are not talking about love, but about money. They could have used Hermes who is the god of commerce, financial gain and he’s also the messenger so it would be more fitting to use him to deliver the message, but instead the goddess of love was used. Is it because business people love money? So with so much hostility for Greece why didn’t they use (abuse) Ares the God of war? The many statues of Ares are very famous too. A few are located at the same museum, the Louvre in Paris, as the ‘Aphrodite de milo’. Perhaps Ares wasn’t used because he looks too strong to represent Greeks. On the other hand, Aphrodite looks more vulnerable because she is a woman and nude.  I know it’s sexist, but we are living in a hostile patriarchical society.. so I guess I just answered my previous question.

I guess a small positive side in all of this is that it inspired my art. I thought I would use her image as well and put her in a more fitting scene where she is not out of her element since she was born in the ocean.

Angelaeconomist

I laughed a lot when I saw this cover. Yes, I will make your day!

Aphrodite1

And the award for the rudest cover of them all goes to..

Desensitized
doomsday

‘Desensitezed/Aπευαισθητοποιημενα’ digital collage

Doomsdaytext‘Pass the sunscreen!’.

‘Hey! That dinosaur is blocking my sun!’

Well, it was supposed to be a fun day at the beach, and unfortunately a few catastrophic events happened. Everyone remained unfazed. Stay cool and calm people..

Take The Leap/Tο Aλμα

bwcatstext1

‘The artist never entirely knows. We guess. We may be wrong. but we take leap after leap in the dark.’ -Agnes de mille (American Dancer)

«Ο καλλιτέχνης δεν ξέρει ποτέ εντελώς. Υποθέτουμε. Μπορεί να είναι λάθος. αλλά παίρνουμε άλμα μετά από άλμα στο σκοτάδι. “-Agnes de mille (Αμερικανός Xορευτής)

A Dogs’ Life/Η ζωή ενός σκύλου

2dogstext1

dogtext2Unfortunately, stray cats and dogs are common sight all over Greece. These photographs were taken on a mountain just west of Athens. During the drive through the mountain I noticed many dogs, some like the ones pictured above, that didn’t look like they really belonged there; they were most likely abandoned by their owners.  These strays seemed so foreign to this environment in comparison to the other dogs there that were a lot more wild than these friendlier ones. On the positive side, there have been some changes made in the past few years by Greeks. The mentality is a lot different, as people have become more sensitive towards animals and there are more cat and dog owners than ever. However, the financial crisis has been a major set back for those who want to help the animals and the government isn’t doing enough as other issues take precedent over the stray animal population.

Click here to see the people who are taking action and you can adopt a pet if you want 🙂

https://www.facebook.com/Greek-strays-up-for-adoption-217166981719549/timeline/

Turtle Power!/Η Δύναμη της Χελώνας

turtlepower

turtletext1

turtletext2‘Slow but steady wins the race.’ A quote from my favourite childhood fable ‘The Tortoise and the Hare’ by ancient Greek storyteller Aesop. In the fable, the humble slow-moving tortoise wins the race when the arrogant fast-moving hare seemed like he was sure to win. This is a great moral lesson in humility, something that is missing in our modern times.

Woman On Top!/Η Γυναικα Στην Κορυφη!
'Woman On Top' collage on canvas by Angela Zafiris

‘Woman On Top’ collage on canvas by Angela Zafiris

This is my humorous feminist collage that I know men (and some non-feminist women) will love so much 😉

Feminism is a subject that has been discussed a lot recently and it has unfortunately become controversial and even taboo for some people. I have heard so many varying definitions of feminism by feminists and anti-feminists and the majority of the definitions are really off and I find that they are made by very ignorant people like celebrities. My definition of feminism is that women shouldn’t be mistreated and discriminated against due to their gender. Throughout human history women have been treated appallingly, they were raped, tortured and suffered verbal and physical abuse at home.  Women had no choice for their future, and no voice. This is why very few women made their mark in history. Today women are still suffering all over the world. It seems that only a little progress has been made.

Yesterday, I was looking at my bookshelf and I noticed that I had a book called, ‘Feminism For Beginners’ from my University years. I decided to read it again with different, older and wiser eyes. The definition of feminism (according to the authors of the book), for anyone who is confused about what it means is: “Women demanding their full rights as human beings.” Also, ‘feminism is about challenging the division of labour in the world that puts men in charge of the public sphere-work, sports, wars, government-while women slave away unpaid in the home, carrying the whole burden of family life”.

I believe that everyone should want equality of the genders, and I would hope that one day people will finally love and respect each and that feminism will not be controversial as it is today.

*If my collage was a little too ‘white’ for some people that is because I only have European magazines to work with.

Above Attiki/Πανω απο την Αττικη

atikkitext1

atikkitext2

landscapetext3

A view of the Atikki landscape from the west of Athens. The first major storms have arrived, so this isn’t the view today. Maybε tomorrow the sun will make a comeback.

Η θέα της Αθήνας από τα δυτικά της . Οι πρώτες μεγάλες καταιγίδες έχουν φτάσει, οπότε αυτη δεν είναι σημερινή  θέα. Ίσως αύριο ο ήλιος θα κάνει μια επιστροφή.