My work is situated in a nomadic, site-specific realm that straddles experimental and interdisciplinary practice in peripheral settings.
It is driven by socio-ecological curiosities and a feminist lens of care. The work involves playful and collaborative technologies, alongside the testing of various multi-sensory tools and methods for community engagement, to understand and connect with local communities.
It is located at the intersections of visual art including documentary photography, filmmaking, anthropological (including ethnographic, listening and observational approaches) and synthesises findings through participatory, immersive and generative exchanges, alongside collaborative methods of infrastructuring and co-creation. My practice delves into human and more-than-human communities from an intersectional standpoint, exploring dynamics tied to gender, patriarchy, and community.
Here, community is revealed as a porous, fluid, and non-static concept.
Through different media, I strive to facilitate the development of group relations, whilst eliciting tacit knowledge and sharing stories, with a focus on discovery and empowerment.
This is explored by visualising hierarchies and inequalities, and by giving participants the agency to take matters in their own hands. Participants are invited to participate in artistic encounters and actions, to create tangible proposals for the maintenance and evolution of their practices.
Ultimately, I am interested in how we can better coexist together with our local communities, in ways that boundaries can be discussed and debunked in grounded and accessible artistic encounters. The purpose is to unveil bigger picture insights by highlighting values of given communities, and by calling attention to tangible and intangible borders that negotiate and disrupt such phenomena.
My personal practice spans various exhibitions, publications, and initiatives such as Integrating Knowledge at Somerset House, London, UK (2013), The Written Stuff - Over-exposed Issue, London, (2013), Climbing the Mountain at COLLABO-NATION, The Cyprus Dossier (2014), Unique Print Exhibition at Camden Image Gallery, London, (2014), Also at Lethaby Gallery, London, (2014), Bird, OWK zine, Limassol, (2016) Doctoral Platform Spotlight in London,
(2018 ), Topophilia, in the Faneromenis 70 journal, Berengaria, Papadaki Warehouses Limassol, (2019), Admin Blues
and Brexit in the literary journal Armarolla, Nicosia (2019), Exotic Birds at Phytorio Visual Arts Association (2020), and creative direction for aλana zine (2022).
My work has received various awards and mentions from the beginning of my practice in 2013. Xarkis has been explored through the lens of community empowerment and our annual festival was featured on TEDx where I was invited as a guest speaker (2014). Xarkis was further showcased in the UNESCO edition of Cultural Expressions and Pluralism: Aspects of Modern Creation in Cyprus (2018), where it is presented as an example of good civil society practice that promotes the objectives of the 2005 UNESCO Convention. It was featured in Elefsina 2021 European Capital of Culture, Greece (2019), where best practices of socially engaged projects were given a spotlight, and was also featured in the Brazilian research magazine Revista Mesa (2021), as a case study for socially engaged practices. More recently, the Walking Society magazine as part of CAMPER (2021) shared a feature interview of my research and practice.
I have spoken at various conferences and universities about my practice in Cyprus and the UK and will soon deliver an artist talk and workshop, at the AANFA Organization in Canada in relation to my practice, while locally I will lead a workshop for the technical committee on culture (2023).
In the context of academia, I have received an AHRC Techne studentship for my ongoing practice-based research degree (Doctor of Philosophy - PhD) at Central Saint Martins, which focuses on developing a co-design methodology within craft heritage communities, alongside community resilience.
In academia, I work as an Associate Lecturer at Central Saint Martins, focused on tackling environmental issues via collaborative practice and an intersectional lens, and at London College of Communication, I work in the co-design unit focused on speculative futures under the MA Design for Social Innovation and Sustainable Futures.
For collaborations / commissions: get in touch at info@christinaskarpari.org