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 five small-scale paintings titled Agony Is Our Triumph continue the artist’s research into collective memory and the ways we perceive history through images and the media. The works are based on an image archive assembled by the artist, capturing scenes from riots that broke up in public spaces, while the photographs document the clashes, burnt buildings, etc. 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 targeted by the protests.
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. She explores events that marked contemporary Greek society and the country’s recent history, zooming in on the many intersections between past and present. 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.
