art – Escape Karma

Nedal Al Taoba,an outstanding collage artist who redifines activism on Instagram

Collage made by Nedal Al Taoba Touches on the monstrous contradictions of our societies

First of all,I would like to thank Nedal,for the photos he sent me and his contribution on Escape Karma magazine.Let me introduce you his story and his work.Nedal Al Taoba is a 27year-old Palestinian who grew up in Syria after his family presecution for their homeland.As a young person who felt the need of freedom and justice,he has been involved with activism from his early years,in a demonstration in Syria he got shot and afterwards moved to Beirut,Lebanon.Once again there as a Palestinian he experienced restrictions and deprivation of human rights.His next station was Greece for a small period of time where he experienced asylum.Currently he lives in Germany with his wife.

Nedal Al Taoba a collage inspired by the Beirut explosion on August 4th 2020

Although Nedal lives in Europe now,he never forgets the Arabic world and the countries of middle East,he is well aware of the wars,the massacres and the unrests there.After the explosion in Beirut,a city where he lived for a while,he combined photos captured by some of his friends and photographers that display smoke after bomb explosions in the middle East in order to accomplish his collage which caused global sensation.

A Nedal Al Taoba collage inspired by the racial and justice and the killing of George Floyd

Through his collage art Nedal,doesn’t only referes to the problems of the Arabic world,but his activism expands worldwide,on racial,environmental,humanitarian,social and political issues.What impress me about him is the way he manages his personal experience and difficulties he faced so far and as a result he transforms them into awaking and so touching art.

Nedal Al Taoba collage art,photo captured after the large fire in Moria refugee camp in Greece,September 9,2020

Is there a time for kohl and lipstick
A time for curling hair
Is there a time for high street shopping
To find the right dress to wear
Miss Sarajevo,

Nedal Al Taoba collage,a Syrian refugee holds his daughter as he waits to cross into Turkey,June 15,2015

Some of his works feel like a punch on the face.They are so meaningful and powerful that is almost impossible not to touch you or make you feel anger and disgust about the impassiveness and the indifference on the pain and the struggle of less favoured fellow human beings.To this point we once again be capable of realizing the meaning and the mission of art,its use is not restricted to delight us but also to inspire,to awaken,to trigger feelings,to force us to turn to our inner world,to move us,to lead us think and question.And Nedal’s art has the ability and the power to make all of the things that I mentioned.

Nedal Al Taoba ,mix of his collages

“Is there a time for tying ribbons
A time for Christmas trees
Is there a time for laying tables
And the night is set to freeze”
Miss Sarajevo,U2

Nedal Al Taoba ‘s Christmas Tree collage

Miss Sarajevo,U2 and Luciano Pavarotti

“Is there a time for first communion
A time for East Seventeen
Is there a time to turn to Mecca
Is there time to be a beauty queen”

Miss Sarajevo,U2

Nedal Al Taoba’s collage art

Through his oeuvre we are able to spot that he is not only focused on the middle East and the bombings,but his awareness affected by environmetal and global issues and to go beyond he also made collages inspired by the pandemic caused by Covid-19 and the discussion around the vaccines.

Last but not least,Nedal is not only an activist on Instagram and the rest of social media but in real life too.Let’s get political,philosophical,humanitarian volunteers,let’s act on global issues that affect us all.

Thank you for taking the time to read.He left me speechless with the first collage I saw on Instagram and felt the need to contact him to congratulate him on his work and ask him to contribute on my magazine.We had a discussion over his art and the issues we face as a modern society.He is kind,smart and willing to help you without even knowing you.

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A post shared by Nedal Al Taoba – نضال التوبة (@nedal_altaoba)

From Nedal’s Instagram account

You can Follow Nedal on Instagram and Facebook.

Eleni Kadigkou Xx

20 January 202121 January 2021

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A special photoshooting edition for NOMAS,Moscow Issue

I would like to thank Lina Stefanou for sending me as a gift the Moscow issue of Nomas Magazine with my order of Nomas 13,as their first reader from the region of Kilkis,Greece.Me and my collaborator and photographer,Panos Kadigkos,conceived the idea and the concept of an honorary photoshooting.I had to surpass one of my biggest fears,that of a fire, but we managed to accomplish it.

Photo Panos Kadigkos

And some photos from the Backstage

You can shop the issue here.

Hope that you will find interesting our approach !

Photographer:Panos Kadigkos

Model:Eleni Kadigkou

Art direction Panos Kadikgos and Eleni Kadigkou.

Eleni Kadigkou Xx

12 January 202112 January 2021

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How do you define time?An ode to Nomas Magazine,13th issue about time

Are you aware of the definition of the word nomad?Nomas magazine redefines the meaning in an artistic,alternative and lyricist approach.For 12 consecutive issues the magazine dedicated it’s covers and its content to cities around the world,it offered us its unique perception of hidden gems through photography,art and writing all well combined into a cultural mix to make us feel the need to travel and have a more deeper look on the places we visit.

Nomas Issue No11 on the left,Issue No10 the anniversary one on the right

But Issue no 13,a number not accidental at all,was published under totally different conditions due to the pandemic,the restrictions on travelling and the confinement and isolation at home.What also changed in Nomas latest issue is the title and the content,their theme is Time and its association with art.The latest issue offers a deep dive into the contemporary art world with artworks related to time,existing ones or projects the magazine asked the artists to create.

Some of our favourites here on E.K.

From left to right 1.Ariana Papademetropoulos (courtesy the artist and Vito Schnabel Gallery) 2.Maria Hassabi,Dusseldorf 2018(courtesy The Breeder, Athens) 3.Wolfgang Tillmans,Zero Gravity IV,2001 4.Pantelis Chandris,Fossils (commissioned for NOMAS magazine) 5.Mike Kelley,Brown Star 1991(Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts/Osdeete,Greece; photo Nie Tenwiggenhor) 6.Alexis Vassilikos,Fountain 2019,courtesy of Can Christina Androulidaki Gallery)

1.Panos Tsagaris Fullness of Time 2.Massimiliano Gioni for NOMAS 13

But beside the contribution of the Greek and international artists,among them the legends Maurizio Cattelan and Jeff Koons,this journey across the contemporary art accomplished thank to the participation of the DESTE Foundation of Dakis Joannou and the artistic director of the New Museum in New York Massimiliano Gioni.In its pages you will discover new lands and you will visit new places but this time the journey is imaginary through Art,texts and interesting interviews among the highlights is the interview of my personal favourite Greek conductor with an international career Teodor Currentzis.

Here our artistic approach on the NOMAS 13.The photographer,Panos Kadigkos captured the images and also assisted me on the art direction.

“Listen, speech is old age’s wisdom And time fiery sculptor of men And the sun hanging over as a beast of hope And you, closer to it ,tighten some love Having a bitter taste of tempest on the lips.”

Marina of the Rocks,Odysseas Elytis

Photo,Panos Kadigkos

To think of time—of all that retrospection!
To think of to-day, and the ages continued henceforward!
To think of time , Walt Whitman

Time present and time past
Are both perhaps present in time future,
And time future contained in time past.
If all time is eternally present
All time is unredeemable.
What might have been is an abstraction
Remaining a perpetual possibility
Only in a world of speculation.
What might have been and what has been
Point to one end, which is always present.
T.S. Eliot

Ticking away the moments that make up a dull day
Fritter and waste the hours in an offhand way.
Kicking around on a piece of ground in your home town
Waiting for someone or something to show you the way.Tired of lying in the sunshine staying home to watch the rain.
You are young and life is long and there is time to kill today.
And then one day you find ten years have got behind you.
No one told you when to run, you missed the starting gun.

Pink Floyd ,Time

Photo,Panos Kadigkos

Come gather ’round people, wherever you roam
And admit that the waters around you have grown
And accept it that soon you’ll be drenched to the bone
If your time to you is worth saving
Then you better start swimmin’ or you’ll sink like a stone
For the times, they are a-changin’
Bob Dylan,The times they are A-changin’

Within you,your years are growing; within me, my years are prowling.Time is resolute,we do not hear it toll; it grows and roams within us,it appears,a bottomless well,ln our gaze, at the corner of your burnt-chestnut eyes a filamentthe course of a diminutive river,a shooting star streaking toward your lips.Time adds its threads to your hair, but in my heart your honeysuckle fragrance is living fire. It is beautiful,as we have done, to grow old living life to the full. Each day was transparent stone, each night for us an inky rose,so this wrinkle on your face, or mine, is a stone, a flower,the memory of the lightning’s flash. My eyes have burned out in your beauty, but you are my eyes.I perhaps exhausted your breasts beneath my kisses, but the world knows your secret splendor in my happiness. Love, what does it matter that time, the very time that raised two flames, two waving heads of wheat, my body and your gentleness, tomorrow will hold them safe or mill the grain, and with those same unseen fingers erase the identities that separate us,giving us the final victory of being one beneath the ground. Pablo Neruda,Ode to Time

Backstage Photo, Panos Kadigkos while shooting

“In this there is no measuring with time, a year doesn’t matter, and ten years are nothing. Being an artist means: not numbering and counting, but ripening like a tree, which doesn’t force its sap, and stands confidently in the storms of spring, not afraid that afterward summer may not come. It does come. But it comes only to those who are patient, who are there as if eternity lay before them, so unconcernedly silent and vast. I learn it every day of my life, learn it with pain I am grateful for: patience is everything!” Rainer Maria Rilke,Letters to a young poet

In addition because of the fact that I happened to be their first reader of the region Kilkis (currently due to the pandemic I’m staying here until I get back to Athens) they sent me as a gift the Moscow issue.In order to thank them we did a special photoshooting,which would be revealed soon.

You can learn more about Nomas Magazine here shop the issue here and follow them on Instagram and Facebook.

Thank you for taking the time to read the article.We live in an era where we consume tons of images and with each one feels like time disintegrated,let’s select carefully what to keep and what to discard.

Last one a song by a Greek artist ,Good job Nicky

Steal a lil’ time from me
Make a lil’ time for me
We don’t really ask for much
Grains in the hourglass
Keep dropping down
Keep dropping down
8th January,Good Job Nicky

Eleni Kadigkou Xx

12 January 202113 January 2021

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What does it mean to Be a woman today ? A video directed and written by Ainsley Hutchence ans produced by sticks and stones agency .

On November 8th the Sticks and Stones agency released a video titled we are woman , written and directed by the curator of the magazine Ainsley Hutchence . My very first thought it was to share it with you because we are woman and we should empower and support each other , we deserve respect and equality .

Here I quote Ainsley Hutchence’s words on the video she created :”This woman army is made up of my incredible boss friends here in QLD, Australia and not paid models.More diversity would of course been wonderful.This video is speaking from my own experiences.Being a woman these days means we can take all different paths and definitely does not need to include having babies.This is a simply reminder that women bring life into the world.Woman who chose not to or cannot have babies deserve the same respect!EQUALITY!”

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A post shared by Sticks & Stones Mothership (@sticks_and_stones_agency)

Sticks and Stones agency on Instagram

Video also available on Youtube

We are women. We are women. We are not birds. We are not chicks. We are not pigs or cows or dogs or any kind of farm animal. We are not bitches or nags or psycho, or hysterical. We are not bimbos or slags or tramps or sluts or tarts or whores or cougars. We are sisters & we daughters. We grow up in a world that teaches us that being nice & polite is more important than having a voice & a point of view.

We learn to listen more than to speak, to compromise & agree more than to argue. We learn that we add value to this world through the way that we look .And are expected to live by the impossible beauty handbook. One that relentlessly reminds us for the rest of our lives, our value in this world is measured by our looks, not our drive. One day we notice blood in our underwear, and for the next 40 years we will learn how to surrender, to the cramps, sore breasts, fatigue, headaches, bleeding, Joint & muscle pain, anxiety, acne outbreaks. abdominal bloating, food cravings, constipation & diarrhoea, at the same time. Can someone please explain how you can be constipated & have diarrhoea at the same time?

Sensitivity to light, hot flushes, irritability, anxiety, changes in sleep. Yet we turn up to work as if nothing. We attract the wrong attention. We are taught rape prevention instead of consent “don’t get raped”. We police girls’ behaviour so that they don’t get harmed, and blame girls for “leading boys on”, its just your natural charm. “Boys will be boys” we say. We are exhausted. I mean, the fact that we even have to protest this shit!!! “No” does not mean “convince me”. These boots, this outfit does not mean I’m asking for it. We are scared. We move in packs because it’s safer. We make weapons with our keys as we walk to the car at night & check the back seat. We are harassed when we go to the club, the bar, the gym, to work, the fish & chip store, anywhere at night, the beach, the pool, online, walk past a fucking construction site.

One day we stop bleeding. We become mothers. We give up all the food & drinks we love & grow a new organ. In fact, our whole body changes like a fucking transformer. We give birth & experience pain & love which before now was unheard of. We are amazing employees, but we don’t get paid the same. We don’t get promoted because we might give birth again. We tire of navigating the patriarchy & cut our losses.

We start our own businesses, so we can be the bosses. People are shocked when we reach the top, but that’s not because we are less capable. It’s because we live in a world that was set up for men, where men can succeed & lead & women should support them. So yeah, when we make it we deserve a fucking parade. Look at all the shit we dealt with along the way. We are goddman mother fucking superheroes. And since the power is not given to us, We’re gonna take.

Hope that you find it interesting and important as me . We are here to share what inspire us and soon we will discuss and present more articles about social issues.Anticipating for you to react and send me your feedback and your thoughts on the video.

You can check the magazine website Sticks and Stones Agency and follow then on Instagram here and the curator Ainsley Hutchence .

Till next time

Eleni Kadigkou Xx

5 January 20215 January 2021

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Jenny Saville’s exhibiton “Elpis” at Gagosian draws inspiration from Greek mythology , look how we reply

Captured and painted on the left by Panagiotis Kadigkos

On the right JENNY SAVILLE Prism, 2020
Pastel on linen 78 3/4 x 63 in
200 x 160 cm
**© Jenny Saville**
**Photo: Prudence Cuming**
**Courtesy Gagosian**

Only Elpis [Hope] was left within her unbreakable house,
she remained under the lip of the jar, and did not
fly away. Before [she could], Pandora replaced the
lid of the jar. This was the will of aegis-bearing
Zeus the Cloudgatherer.
—Hesiod, Works and Days

Gagosian’s New York gallery reopened on November 12th 2020 after the pandemic-related shutdown in March displaying a not at all incidental exhibition but an extremely relevant .Jenny Saville’s exhibition titled “Elpis” stands for Hope in Greek and finds its roots at the ancient Greek poet Hesiod and its poem Work and days related to the myth of Pandora .

JENNY SAVILLE
Elpis, installation view, 2020
**© Jenny Saville**
**Photo: Rob McKeever**
**Courtesy Gagosian**

During her career the viewer has encountered clear references on Greek mythology . Her oeuvre draws inspiration from archaic Greek and classical sculptures , and how it couldn’t ? Jenny Saville is known for her large-scale painted depictions of nude bodies especially obese women whereas her radical techniques challenged the art world , and many times on her work we encounter the ambiguity of gender .

JENNY SAVILLE
Virtual, 2020
Oil on canvas
78 3/4 x 63 in
200 x 160 cm
**© Jenny Saville**
**Courtesy Gagosian**

Her contribution to the contemporary figurative painting is pivotal , such as Egon Schiele was in the early 20th century . Back on 2014 Kunsthaus Zurich presented an exhibition displaying artworks of both of them , it was a dialogue among two artists who pay homage to the human body , they have a unique way of depicting it but also self-portray themselves quite often . In that exhibition paintings were imbued with eroticism , distinctive characteristic of both of their paintings . Jenny has been asked in an interview about that matter and declared the following :”It has become more and more important, I would say. Instead of erotic in a sexual sense, I would say erotic in a life force or drive.”

On the left Reclining Woman ,Egon Schiele 1917 ,Leopold Museum On the right *Oxyrhynchus* (2012–14), Jenny Saville © ProLitteris, Zürich

But on “Elpis” Saville forget for a while the bodies and focusing on portraying faces . A visit to Moscow , had her fascinated by people’s faces there , with no hesitation she booked a studio there and worked with photographs of the models she found more appropriate for this project .The vivid colour palette and the brushstrokes , the childish-like depiction of the faces , the innocence and the hope are so evident on the eyes of her portraits . You can profoundly feel that optimism and the gaze on the bright future .

The first painting I saw from the exhibition was Second Nature , 2020 and it literally hit me and blew my mind . Along with my collaborator photographer who has also drawing and painting skills we addressed the project of depict Jenny Saville’s work .He painted my face , took pictures and edited them . The result may seems not so close to her artworks but we wanted to make an ode to her astonishing work and pay homage to that woman , who is a living legend.

Images and painting Panagiotis Kadigkos

The exhibition will remain open until 22nd of December at Gagosian Gallery 980 Madison Avenue
New York, ny 10075

Eleni Kadigkou Xx

18 December 202019 December 2020

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in which era do you prefer to have lived ?

“A woman’s guess is much more accurate than a man’s certainty ” ,
Rudyard Kipling

My response to the question of the title is the era we are going through ; but I am fortunate to have the opportunity to transform ,through the photo shootings we provide with my collaborator , cousin and photographer , into characters of all times .

We are on the firsts days of the general Lockdown , happened on the November , in our country Greece and we have just reunite with my collaborator . Starting discussing about what we should shoot next and he proposed to depict a classical painting . Then the idea pop-uped in my brain , did a quick research and a Lavinia’s Fontana painting caught my attention .

Portrait of a Lady of the Court with a Dog ,1590 Lavinia Fontana ,Private Collection

Her pale face and her red hair resembling to mine were the crucial element in order to end up with this choice , but her posture and sight were flaunted dominance and certainty of a woman living around the 16th century , so I wanted to empower women of all the eras .

The idea immediately adjusted to our project and soon we were addressing the clothes , the hair and the whole scenery .

Photo credits Panagiotis Kadigkos

The painting responds to the art movement of mannerism ,also known as a Late Renaissance ,a style which emerged in the later years of High Renaissance , around the 1520 till the end of the 16th century in Italy .Notable names to be mentioned ,except Lavinia Fontana ,are El Greco and Giuseppe Arcimboldo .The colour pallet of the artwork is much brighter than our final result , firstly because of the light and the scenery that was available that time and secondly our version is according to our aesthetics .

Nevertheless , the painting was the trigger point for accomplishing this shooting and pay homage to women of the past ,of the present and the future .Something similar did the Museo del Prado the past October , in the context of the celebration of its Bicentenary , presented an exhibition called “A Tale of Two Women Painters: Sofonisba Anguissola and Lavinia Fontana” honouring the female artists of the second half of 16th century .Lavinia is considered to be the first professional female artist while Sofonisba was born to an aristocratic family and she never received fee for her services .

To sum it , up we gave a twist on a late renaissance painting ,but what I would like you to keep is that women were never the fairer sex . Women are strong by their nature , they have opinion ,they are political , sentimental ,creative ,innovators ; you can distinguish it by their imposing presence and their sight , by the way they think and act .

Eleni Kadigkou Xx

Photographer : Panagiotis Kadigkos

Model : Eleni Kadigkou

Featuring Shirt : Rococo

19 November 202015 December 2020

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