1) |149So I spoke, and their proud hearts consented.
Then by day I would weave the great web, |150 but by night would unravelit, after having placed torches by me.
Thus for three years I went unnoticed and persuaded the Achaeans; but when the fourth year came, as the seasons rolled on, as the months waned, and many days had revolved, then verily by the help of my maidens, disrespectful bitches, |155 they came upon me and caught me, and upbraided me loudly. So I finished the web against my will perforce.
|149 ἔνθα καὶ ἠματίη μὲν ὑφαίνεσκον μέγαν ἱστόν, |150 νύκταςδ ̓ἀλλύεσκον, ἐπεὶ δαΐδας παραθείμην. |151 ὣς τρίετες μὲνἔληθον ἐγὼ καὶ ἔπειθον Ἀχαιούς: |152 ἀλλ ̓ ὅτε τέτρατον ἦλθεν ἔτος καὶ ἐπήλυθον ὧραι, |153 μηνῶν φθινόντων, περὶ δ ̓ ἤματα πόλλ ̓ ἐτελέσθη, |154 καὶ τότε δή με διὰ δμῳάς, κύνας οὐκ ἀλεγούσας, |155 εἷλον ἐπελθόντες καὶ ὁμόκλησαν ἐπέεσσιν. |156 ὣς τὸ μὲν ἐξετέλεσσα, καὶ οὐκ ἐθέλουσ ̓, ὑπ ̓ ἀνάγκης: |157 νῦν δ ̓ οὔτ ̓ ἐκφυγέειν δύναμαι γάμον οὔτε τιν ̓ ἄλλην|158 μῆτιν ἔθ ̓ εὑρίσκω·1)
-Penelope in Odyssey, (19.149–158)
|149 So I spoke, and their proud hearts consented.
Then by day I would weave the great web, |150 but by night would unravel it, after having placed torches by me. Thus for three years I
went unnoticed and persuaded the Achaeans; but when the fourth
year came, as the seasons rolled on, as the months waned, and
many days had revolved, then verily by the help of my maidens,
disrespectful bitches, |155 they came upon me and caught me,
and upbraided me loudly. So I finished the web against my will perforce.
-Penelope in Odyssey, (19.149–158)
The Makryammos Art Residency invites and supports an
artists or other creative practitioners working with
ephemerality at the core of their artistic practice. This
means work that involves fleeting objects or expressions
of time, fluctuation and transience.
Ephemerality dodges the unspoken rules of the art market; there
is no object to sell, no desire to monetize, the circular is
preferred over the linear. The residency is considered a critical
site of production. Therefore it accentuates the experiment and
the processual through which the ephemeral artwork is created.
The residency aims to give an artist or other creative
practitioner time and space. By creating a free zone that disregards
the conventions and market principles of much of the contemporary
art world, it emphasizes the importance of ephemerality. The
residency will help artists working in the field of ephemerality
develop and sustain their creativity without material-object
obligations but with an ephemeral output. The resident’s work
takes place at the intersection of ephemeral art, nature and craft.
Artist's statement
Memories about the rural life of my village are the point of focus in my work, these include familiarity, closeness, and togetherness, as well as simplicity, slowness, physical labour, and nature in my village. Through the subjects I visualise in my folk works(installations and drawings), I try to evoke viewers’ yearning for the rural life.
I dive into my past and attempt to capture moments that I have experienced from a young age. The images refer to my memories from the village, Shijian Cun, where I grew up as a child in the countryside of South China.
My work is characterised by its earthly tones that reflect this landscape. During the making process, I imitate the postures of the farmers by bending over or kneeling on the ground. My
material relation with charcoal, canvas, fabric, clay and soil is of essence: mirroring the farmers’ the relation amongst the farmer, their land and nature.
With my work, I not only give a glimpse into my personal background, but also turn my focus towards the present moment, I feel, that the number of people who lack experiences of countryside life is increasing.
