48
H
aris Epaminonda’s first solo exhibition in
Cyprus focused primarily on the film
Chap-
ters
, her most elaborate film project to date.
Chap-
ters
was filmed in various locations in Cyprus last
autumn and created in close collaboration with
Point Centre for Contemporary Art, which also
exhibited her work.
Haris Epaminonda often uses pre-existing mate-
rials, assembling them in ways to create works,
multi-layered installations and videos that remain
enigmatic while defying classification. Her works
rather suggest a flattening of the hierarchy between
things offering a place where illusion coexists with
the tangible, and where each thing can be read and
examined on a single plane.
Chapters
is a poetic series of meticulously staged
scenes, with underlying narrative elements of love,
longing, afterlife and ritual. Visitors can expect to
encounter a universe of melancholic beauty in
which the artist crafts timeless atmospheres, plac-
ing Cypriot landscapes as the protagonists. Many
of the objects, sets and costumes have been de-
signed and produced in Cyprus while others have
been granted by the Cyprus Theatre Organisation.
The scenes duel between light and dark, day and
night, interior and exterior, the near and the far.
The actors, objects, animals and spaces shift back
and forth between sculptural representations and
their own symbolic and metaphorical meanings.
There are various references to ancient myths and
poetry, Renaissance painting and Byzantine ico-
nography. The use of fixed camera is reminiscent
of the tableaux-vivant from avant-garde cinema.
A contemporary epic,
Chapters
is challenging the
nature of classical film-making. Originally filmed
Haris Epaminonda – Chapters
9 October - 20 December 2013
