Aggeliki Kourmoulaki, with “Onirotropia 2 / Deep Line, Curved”, invites us into the journey of her personal development as a woman and an artist. She views her art as a product of inspiration from alternate dimensions, an act of ecstasy and creation that belongs to everyone. With her, we witness our own evolution as unique and universal beings, regardless of our chromosomal makeup. Femininity is encountered as a transcendent concept, simultaneously disarmingly earthly, electrifying the feminine towards creativity, and guiding the masculine towards receptivity and empathy.

We exist in a world that increasingly distances itself from the fluidity and circularity of the soul. In a fragmented world that excludes specialization, order, and classification, we wonder why we can’t find tranquility. We seek square solutions on a round planet. It’s expected that we fail miserably, and our paths become increasingly hazardous. The artist, a tool of higher wisdom, stands naked before us and dares to offer something that few dare: the idol of our own reflection in the mirror.

After awakening us with her images, she takes us on a journey into the depths of dreams, where we can encounter truths not easily found elsewhere. She grants us access to her inner world and dares to share with us her psychological birth, her transformation into a conscious woman, a finite yet eternal being with flesh and bones.

In “Onirotropia 2”, just like its predecessor, “Onirotropia 1”, Aggeliki fearlessly portrays the journey of a woman steering her life’s course, capturing it with the devotion of an ascetic and the determination of an escapee. Yet, she doesn’t stop there. She earnestly and lovingly calls us to engage in a sincere dialogue about the essence of all our lives and to embrace her work with all our senses. She generously meets us with images and words from the language of curves, helping us understand their true meaning, as it takes immense generosity to know how to give.

But beyond the fact that we become participants in a personal confession that concerns us all, as every substantial work of art achieves, Aggeliki takes a great leap forward. She invites and challenges us to respond, to stand equally courageously before her, inviting us to remember the language of circularity, encounter, dialogue, and exchange.

It is an honor for me to introduce her work, and an even greater honor that I participate alongside my theater group, Playback RU, in the humanization of two-dimensional images and their transformation into spectacle, sound, emotion, and life. Just like “Onirotropia 1”, this edition provides source material for interactive playback theatre performances, where the audience actively translates the artist’s ideas into action and experience. Aggeliki wants her art to be shared beyond the confines of our individual minds and inspires us to gaze beyond the clouds, beyond this galaxy.

The great abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko once said that his art would become understandable wherever there is “need and spirit”. The time is now. The need is vast. Our spirits thirst and demand recognition. Aggeliki hears and responds. Guided by dignity, love, passion, and faith, the artist touches wisdom and, along with it, the freedom of a woman learning why she lives, how to live, and for whom she lives. For you and for me.

It is worthy.
Let us see.

Lia Zografou
Drama Therapist, Actress –
‘Playback RU’ Improvisational Theatre Group

Documentation text for the retrospective exhibition “Onirotropia 2 / Deep Line, Curved”, which took place within the framework of the Arts and Crafts Festival – Capsis by Antiques House, at the “Sithonia” Halls on the 2nd floor of the Capsis Hotel Conference Center (16 Monastiriou, Thessaloniki) on December 21-23, 2018.