Greek Australian artist Eugenia Raskopoulos uses the performing body to reflect on cultural practices that relate to everyday life, from the translation of words and their meaning across cultures, to aspects of sexuality and the erotic, in her latest exhibition, Footnotes.
In her new video installation Footnotes she turns to materials that relate more directly to ideas of sexuality and gender – from lipstick to liquids of more ambiguous origins.
Using her own limbs as instruments or surfaces for inscription, Raskopoulos performs a series of actions that accumulate letters into words, written in English and Greek. Through these gestures she draws attention to translation as an awkward exchange that is shaped by the potential for loss or contamination of meaning.
The performing body is an insistent presence in footnotes, emphasising written and spoken communication as inherently bodily functions.
However, in evoking the slippage between different languages and juxtaposing this with references to the erotic, Raskopoulos also alludes to aspects of experience that are beyond words.
This month also saw the artist win the prestigious Josephine Ulrik and Win Schubert Photography Award 2012, for her work entitled ‘Vestiges #3’. The artist’s work was chosen over 367 other works and scored her $20,000 for her picture.
The image displays a crumpled piece of wrapping paper with a used strap of ribbon beside it.
Guest judge Kon Gouriotis, of the Australian Photographic Centre said: “I kept on returning to Eugenia Raskopoulos ‘Vestiges’ photograph because of the poetic transformation that was occurring, especially the experimentation with texture and the sculptural potential of the materials”.
Footnotes is on at the Art Gallery NSW, Art Gallery Rd, The Domain, Sydney until 13 May. For more information visit artgallery.nsw.gov.au.
To see her prize winning photograph ‘Vestiges #3’ you can do so at the Gold Coast City Gallery, The Arts Centre Gold Coast, 135 Bundall Rd, Surfers Paradise, Qld, for more information visit theartscentregc.com.au