NEW PERCEPTION

Constantinos Papachristou, 2017

The recent works of Katherine Vafias confirm the particular relationship she has with photography, a relationship built during her previous works and here it finds another expression. What differentiates the particular works is the fact that photography is used as a means upon which a new work is staged, with its own self existent entity. It is a long process starting from the taking of the initial photograph, goes through the catalyst of the digital processing and results in the final, new work the spectator is seeing.

It is difficult for someone to recognize identifiable elements of the reality of the initial stage in the end result. But what it matters for the creator is not the directedness or the exact photographic representation, but the rendering of the process leading to a new figurative reality. The digital interventions are not made randomly but they are based on a symptomatic logic. On the contrary, they are undergoing a cognitive process that retrieves creator’s memories from the past, which in their turn trigger respective processes in public’s mind. Such a function is served by the kaleidoscopic technique that reflects sensitive childish memories seen though the logic of the digital frigidity.

The works of Katherine Vafias are built on the basis of symmetry and geographic organization. If one observes with greater attention the deepness of each work, he will discover a whole world of images and symbols built with harmony and feeling that frequently recalls to the memory childish drawings. The interventions are studied functionally, aesthetically and symbolically and contribute to the creation of a particular atmosphere. The drawings-symbols are integrated within the whole, creating their own codes and require the spectator to decipher them. The completed work, although impressive at first glance, nevertheless it invites the spectator to see behind it, not limiting himself to the superficial reading of the image but approaching creator’s sensitive universe as much as possible.