Carss Park is located in the southern Sydney suburb of Kogarah. When the park supervisor left his job, the home where he used to live, within the park, was abandoned. At first, the local municipality had ordered the demolition of the building.
However, federal Greek Australian MP and then mayor, Nickolas Varvaris, fought to turn the building into an artist residence.
His proposal won the votes of all Greek Australian councillors, thus giving life to the Artist in Residence project. Varvaris suggested that the building should be preserved and renovated in order for artists to be able to live in the cottage for short periods of time and create their work.
Therefore, today the initiative draws a wide range of artists working across different art forms to Kogarah and introduces new experiences and opportunities to the community.
At the moment, Greek sculptor Takis Kozokos is living in the cottage as an artist in residence, working on a sculpture entitled The Book of St George of Kogarah and several commissions for the Lemnian Association of NSW.
Takis Kozokos was born in Athens. He studied at the Faculty of Fine Arts in Tinos and then resumed his studies at the Athens Higher Faculty of Fine Arts.
He worked as a sculptor-restorer on the Acropolis restoration project between 1990 and 1997, while later he also worked as a sculptor in the Acropolis Museum.