Dimitra Skandali
Sea beds and Signals
2019
embroidered sea grass on painted emergency blankets, sea grass strands, found fishing nets, single channel projection, sound.
8 x 16 x 17 feet (H x D x W)
Artist Statement
Seagrass and seaweed from the Pacific Ocean, a found fishing net from the coasts of Bengal and a drawing based on physiographic charts of the oceans suggest that individuals separated by geography and worldviews remain linked by the same global issues in the face of current sea changes. Drawing with overlapped charts from both the Atlantic and the Pacific Ocean reflects a confused emotional and psychological space.
The use of very fragile elements like emergency blankets which suggest refuge have lost their meaning. Painted and embroidered with sea grass are now torn apart offering no protection or safety anymore; constantly shifting lines that connect and separate, marks like letters beckoning signals of emergency, codes and charts that need to be decoded. Organic and manmade materials transmit messages of fragility, beauty, connectivity that need to be heard.
Nominated by Alison Woods
Dimitra Skandali has an uncanny ability to transform ordinary, heterodox materials into something unworldly. For this particular piece, she started with emergency blankets, an inexpensive product one might keep with your first aid kit or camping gear. This then became a signifier for some deeper meaning. The emergency blanket is perforated, embroidered with sea grass and suspended to create the sensation of being under water. the lightweight material is suspended from the ceiling with seagrass, a fragile material combined with pieces of fishing nets. Dimitra’s work often refers to the sea, as she grew up on a Greek Island where the sea is omnipresent. This piece most perfectly captures the essence of the sea.