Agony Is Our Triumph, 2010
Oil and acrylic on 5 wooden panels
ΕΜΣΤ Collection
The work was realised in the framework of the ΕΜΣΤ Commissions 2010 programme with the support of Bombay Sapphire gin
Eirene Efstathiou’s work engages with public events of a political nature and seeks to explore the social space shaped by collective struggles. The installation titled Agony Is Our Triumph continues the artist’s research into collective memory and the ways we perceive history through images and the media. Comprising five paintings, the work is based on an image archive assembled by the artist, capturing scenes from the unrest during the December 2008 Athens riots. This archive also includes the artist’s own photographs of the interiors of public service buildings in Athens, taken as part of her field research into the institutions that were targeted by the protests during that period.
In this work, as in others from the same series, Efstathiou addresses both contemporary events and the post-junta period (Metapolitefsi in Greek) to examine Greece’s recent history and analyse concepts such as those of resistance, collective action, and personal conscience. The demonstrations and riots of December 2008 erupted following the killing of fifteen-year-old student Alexandros Grigoropoulos by a special guard of the Greek police in central Athens. The true nature of the events became a source of political and social friction, as conflicting interpretations emerged over their causes. Efstathiou explores these events that marked contemporary Greek society and the country’s recent history, zooming in on the many intersections between past and present. The riots of December 2008 were described by several media outlets as the worst in Greece since 1974, when democracy was restored following the military junta. Efstathiou’s painting aims to create a subjective space in which we can explore how we understand and reconstruct the past.
Eirene Efstathiou was born in Athens in 1980. She lives and works in Athens.
