Janis Rafa’s first solo institutional exhibition in Greece titled We Betrayed the Horses comprises a series of new works in several media, created specifically for EMΣT , which continue the artist’s investigation into the relationship between the human and non-human world, especially that between humans and horses. The exhibition focuses on the idea of desire for the animal’s body, as well as on the need to subjugate and dominate it. Rafa transforms two of the Museum’s exhibition spaces into a highly evocative, immersive installation featuring new sculptural and text-based works, alongside a new two-channel video installation filmed in the vacant spaces of a racecourse and incorporating early 20th century archival footage.
In We Betrayed the Horses the artist once again turns her insightful gaze to the image of the horse, which frequently recurs in her practice, this time from the perspective of what she herself has termed the performed horse, denoting the idea of the horse as a ‘construct’ of our own making, far removed from its own instincts, physicality and desires; a means, therefore, for the fulfillment of human needs and an instrument of pleasure. The works also examine the gendered, and elitist nature of horsemanship.
The exhibition continues the artist’s investigation into the notions of care and betrayal, sensuality and domination, love and control, but will also further explore the idea of a ‘colonization’ of the animal world, of physical subjugation and non-consensual relationships. While many of the artist’s previous works centre on the animal body, her new work in the exhibition focuses on the absence of that body. Here the image of the horse is missing: its presence is only implied in the human-made inventions and apparatuses shaped around the animal’s body in order to tame and control it, and to express affection and care in what is essentially a misinterpretation of the notion of love.
Turning to the horse as a paradigm of constructed physicality and lost identity, Rafa proposes a visual vocabulary that seeks to draw attention to our tendency to classify the non-human in terms of compatibility, productivity and efficiency, thus highlighting the seductive yet often malicious and sadistic bond at the heart of this age-old relationship.
The works in the exhibition’s first room, and the atmosphere of pervasive sensuality therein, call on the viewer to contemplate the latent eroticism of the relationship between the horse and its rider: a physical relationship which, from the human perspective and in terms of human desire, is at once real and imagined. The exhibition’s second room focuses on the history of equestrianism, horse racing, competitive sport, animal taming and commodification. What is more, the fascinating dystopian images of the closed racecourse in Rafa’s video installation encourage reflection on such notions as gambling, entertainment, glory and triumph at the expense of the animal itself. Rafa’s approach to filming – the characteristic darkness of her scenes, the absence of humans and animals alike, the constantly shifting lighting and specific angles that create the perception of a non-human perspective on the objects and the empty spaces that the camera pans over (not to mention the work’s particular soundscape) all ultimately serve to allude to an otherworldly place, forsaken and consigned to oblivion; to a setting that seems to embody a requiem for man’s wrongful way of relating to the animal and for the latter’s repressed wildness. Through her work the artist builds a space wherein to contemplate, to protest and grieve about animal dignity, ethics and rights and to question our assumptions of reciprocal love and of supremacy over the non-human other.
Curated by Daphne Vitali
BIOGRAPHY
Janis Rafa’s artistic research employs different media from feature films to shorter videos, and from sculptures to drawings and text-based works. Her work focuses on the relationship between human and non-human animals, to raise issues about seemingly contradictory schemes such as love and domination, seduction and consent, but also mortality and loss. Her multilayered practice emphasizes animalistic instincts, untamed behaviors, inherent violence, alongside human fears, desires and failure. Her films and installations often focus on the silent presence of animals, allowing them to become the leading force within her poetic and timeless compositions. Her subjects are often positioned on urban fringes and decaying landscapes, blending the fictional with the mundane.
Janis Rafa was born in Greece (b. 1984); she lives and works between Amsterdam and Athens. Rafa studied Fine Arts at the University of Leeds (BA and MA) and has a PhD in Visual Arts & Philosophy at the same University (2009-2012). In 2013 and 2014 she was a resident at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam and she has also participated in other artists’ residencies, including Artworks of the S. Niarchos Foundation (2020) and Onassis Air Program (2023/24).
Recent solo shows include: Janis Rafa – Landscape Depressions, VOX Centre de l’image contemporaine (2025), Copri Caduti, Artdate Bergamo (2024), Janis Rafa – Feed me. Cheat me. Eat me, Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam (2023); Riddles for resilient tongues, opbo studio (2023); Lacerate, Turku Art Museum, Turku, Finland (2023); Eaten by Non-Humans, Centraal Museum, Utrecht (2019).
Group exhibitions (selection): The Collective Purr, Nobel building, Athens (2024); Lantern With No Walls, Tarmak 22, Gstaad (2024); The Lives of Animals, MUHKA, Antwerp (2024); The Parliament of Marmots, Biennale Gherdëina, Bolzano (2024); The Milk of Dreams, 59th Venice Biennial (2022); Mascarilla-19 Codes of Domestic Violence, Fundació Antoni Tàpies, Barcelona (2021); Everything is in a State of Change, Goethe Institute Athens (2021); Silence and Rituals, MAXXI, Rome (2022 and 2020); Utters excess in between, State of Concept, Athens (2020); Directing the Real: Artist’s Film & Video in the 2010s, Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Florence (2018), Beyond Words, Mardin Biennial, Mardin, Turkey (2018); Close-Up: A New Generation of Film & Video Artists in the Netherlands, EYE Filmmuseum, Amsterdam (2021 and 2016).
Exhibition Credits
Artistic Direction: Katerina Gregos
Administrative-Financial Direction: Athina Ioannou
Curator: Daphne Vitali
Exhibition Design & Artistic Production: Yannis Arvanitis
Lighting: Sakis Birbilis
Audiovisual Installation: Makis Faros, Antonis Gatzougiannis
Audiovisual Consultation: Aggelos Mantzios, MetaPost
Art Handling & Transport: consTRUCKtivist ΕΕ Fine Art Packing & Transport
Graphic Design: Eleni Spyridaki
Assistant of Exhibition Design: Efi Lazakidou
Artist’s Assistant: Filanthi Bougatsou
Artist’s Production Assistant: Ero Adrakta
Neon Construction: nakos LEDneon applications
Fabric Constructions: Maria Panagiotou
Constructions & Wall Painting: Michaela Ungureanu, Renovate Up
Conservators: Fotini Alexopoulou, Elizabeta Vrachoriti (intern)
Deputy Director of Technical Services: Iro Nikolakea
Technical Support: Gregory Sampanis, Vangelis Filippas, Emilios Petrikis
Insurance: Karavias Underwriting Agency SA
Translation: Maria Skamaga
Editing: Anny Malama
Prints: NEXT S.A.
Wall Texts Production: Mathilde Skiloyannis
Communication (EMΣT): Ioakeim Theodoridis, Marigo Siakka, Iliana Siarga (Graphics), Sergio Zalmas (Social Media)
Communication Consultant: Maria Tsolaki
Special Thanks:
Alexandros and Alexia Mitsopoulou Private Collection, Hellenic Equestrian Federation, Lilian Didi, Elki Fotiadi, Niki Markogianni, Hippolysis NPC, Thodoros Michopoulos
SPONSORS
