Melbourne-based Greek arts manager, and facilitator, Tyana Athina Arhondis worked with Indigenous artist Aretha Brown to bring to fruition a major large-scale art project at one of Tokyo’s leading railway stations.
As part of the Melbourne-based KISS MY ART collective, Arhondis joined a team of five artists to help renowned Aboriginal artist Aretha Brown in creating a mural at Shin-Sakuradai Station.
The artwork has captivated Japanese train commuters, who stopped daily to watch the project come to life and now stop to see it completed.
Arhondis was responsible for organising the collective, sourced materials and coordinated accommodations and flights for her team.
She told Neos Kosmos that her organisational skills and “commitment to hard work” come from her parents, “who have successfully run the Greek Deli at the Camberwell market for many years”.
“I owe my parents a lot,” Arhondis said.
Aretha Brown was full of praise for Arhondis’s efforts, and emphasised the distinct Greek influence she brought to the mural.
“The project just wouldn’t have happened without her,” Brown said.
“I usually paint in black and white, but it was Tyana who suggested I try a different flavour, which is why the mural is in blue and white—the colours of the Greek flag.”
Brown further reflected on the symbolism of the colour palette, “Those colours are a first for me and show the global allyship between Greek and Aboriginal people.
Blue and white, Greece’s flag colours, have became synonymous with modern Greece’s hard fought independence from 400 years of Ottoman colonial subjugation. Symbolic of the sea and sky and of freedom, the colours also resonate Brown for similar reasons.
“Our cultures have much in common, such as a deep connection to nature and the land, oral tradition and storytelling, the importance of mythology, and a deep respect for elders and community.
Reflecting on her own name, ‘Aretha’, Brown said, “It’s funny, my name ‘Aretha’ is Greek, so while I’m proud to be Aboriginal, I feel very connected to the beautiful Greek people.”
Aretha, a derivation of Arete (Ἀρετή), means ‘virtue,’ and ‘excellence’ and in ancient Greek philosophy, arete was a central concept representing the highest potential or excellence that a person could achieve, often tied to their purpose or function in life.
Since its inception in 2019, the KISS MY ART collective has created over 65 murals and public artworks across the globe, including projects in Australia, the United States, Canada, Great Britain, India, East Timor, Indonesia, and now Japan.
“The dream is to do a mural in Greece one day soon,” Brown said.
“I love Greek food, Greek people, and Greek culture, and Tyana has taught me so much. So, here’s hoping.”
