Thesis Exhibition: April 10-13, 2013

Opening Reception: April 12, 6-8pm

Parthenon Wall of Columns
Archival Pigment Print, Dimensions Variable, 2012

Postmonument
Photo Installation, Dimensions Variable, 2012

Dimitra Ermeidou’s photographic practice investigates the failures and false promises of equality, individuality and economic freedom associated with democracy and enlightenment ideology.  Specifically, Ermeidou uses symbols deriving from ancient Greece to visualize the means with which Greece’s extant economic crisis refutes the efficacy and success of the present association of democracy and Neoliberal economics. Not only does Ermeidou evoke the pertinence of ancient art to contemporary politics, but also she reveals how contemporary ideology - though distorted by capitalism - is rooted in ancient philosophic debates concerning what constitutes the public or who may participate in democratic systems.  To do so, she works with Classical Greek architecture and sculpture exploited by humanists to symbolize democracy and the public sphere.  However, Ermeidou does not highlight the rationality, beauty, and order applauded or propagandized by humanists.  Rather, she asks American audiences to reconsider how society should view and comprehend symbols considered humanist and made for the public. Moreover, she hopes to distinguish between the assumptions viewers attach to these symbols versus the reality that democratic institutions do not prevent civic unrest.
- Shana Cooperstein

More information about Dimitra Ermeidou available at www.dimitraermeidou.com