Artist Profile
Demetra Kokkinou
Artist Profile
Demetra Kokkinou
Paper is a great chameleon. Wherever it finds a home—in a shape, a weight, a color or texture—that home is usually fleeting. Paper, like all fragile things, can be crumpled and returned to scrap in a second.
“I’ve been working with paper since I could touch it. As a child, books were everywhere. The difference was: while normal children read books and shelved them, my journeys with the books I opened never ended.”
There’s something magical and immensely creative about working with paper and its endlessly morphing colors, textures and shapes. But perhaps most amazing of all is that each new construction—each new journey— begins with a totally blank page.”
Artwork
Exhibitions
“Paper Art: Four Dimensions” – 2019
KIMONOS
The paper outfits made in real size, are inspired from Europe and Asia, different eras and cultures from the 16th century onward. I am captivated and greatly intrigued by the language of clothing – both contemporary and historical. My work explores the relevance between the identity of the person and the garment as well as the interaction between viewer and the person wearing the garment.
I use my own handmade paper, work the raw fiber using traditional equipment and techniques. The process of paper making is vital to my work. The complex structure of the fibers enables me to create sculptural pieces without the use of glue.
BOOKS
There’s nothing quite like the feeling, for the reader, when a book comes alive and the content inside the book stops being just words on the page. A manifestation of a breathing, living event with rare instances where the book not only lives in our mind but in the real world as well.
The books we love to read should be alive through time. Characters, we care deeply for, should jump out from the pages into our lives and tell us their stories. What we dream in our imagination, whilst reading a book, should be presented for the world to see.
It’s a tediously slow process, working on a miniature scale.
I work within the realm of fairy tales and folklore. I began creating a series of book sculptures, cutting out images from old books creating three-dimensional diorama and displaying them inside wooden boxes.