An exhibition of photography by women exploring the female gaze and a celebration of conversation. Lead Artist, Anne Marie Slater, (Canada), (Victoria Square Project, Residency Artist) and women ages 16 to 60 from the Melissa Network for Migrant Women, and the 2nd General Lyceum of Athens: Theodoros Angelopoulos.
The photographs in the exhibition NEIGHBOURHOOD LIGHT - LOCAL, BEAUTY focus on photography, social change, and the female gaze through images taken in the Victoria Square Neighbourhood.
The exhibition features portraits of women by women, urban light images, and constructed photographs by lead artist A.M. Slater that write women visually into neighbourhood public space. Slater commenting on images made by women. “Gender equity is evident in all forms and in particular image making. How images of women are created and represented in media, online and print is key to reflecting identity and encouraging empowerment with both young women and within vulnerable communities of migrant women. Creating images by women of women can be both participatory and generate artworks that create a space for conversation”.
The Victoria Square Project an arts based community hub (founded by Rick Lowe (U.S.A.) in collaboration with Maria Papadimitriou, Greece) goes beyond traditional walls into community networks and has many successful collaborations with artists, local residents and organizations from the project’s centre at Elpidos Street 13.
Artist, Maria Papadimitriou sums it up when she says “art is not possible to change the world but it makes people think and for me this is its most important function.”
Conversations over the four days
Friday, May 10, 19:00 Exhibition Opening
Saturday, May 11, 16:00 - 20:30 “Woman to Woman / Small Conversations”
Sunday, May 12, 16:00 - 18:00 “Photography conversations about portraits and language” by artist Anne Marie Slater
Monday, May 13 School day
Anne Marie Slater’s art practice is informed by art in local economics and the power of small, daily, local actions and observations. Art addressing the daily aspects of women in neighbourhoods and public space and as the work of philosophical economist, Leopold Kohr identifies the “cult of bigness” that in time disconnects neighbourhoods. She asks in her research how can image making by women bring new understandings about connecting in public space, making visible, daily feminist histories, the use of public routes, and accessibility in the urban village.
Produced by Victoria Square Project and Anne Marie Slater, Neuron Village (Canada) In cooperation with the 2nd General Lyceum of Athens: Theodoros Angelopoulos, The Melissa Network of Migrant Women, and the EOS Gallery.
About the artist
Anne Marie Slater is a Canadian visual artist, photographer whose work long term has a focus on empowerment for youth and women’s voice in public spaces. She has been working as an Artist in Vancouver’s DTES and other diverse neighbourhoods with vulnerable and multi- ethnic communities in Vancouver, Canada. Her interdisciplinary photographic practice is located within her project studio Neuron Village Inc., a collaborative arts research space that aims to learn and create from and with others globally. As a photographer with a B.F.A. from Emily Carr University in Photography and a M.A. in Arts Education from Simon Fraser University, Ms. Slater has worked with both non-profit, and various partnerships to bring dialogue to the forefront through images, workshops, and projects that reflect the still image and its narrative ability to tell stories and ask questions that encourage conversations.