ARCAthens Virtual Residency July 2023
Amalia Vekri is a Greek artist based in Athens. Parallel to her own artistic practice she has initiated curatorial and publishing projects. She is also the programming director of Haus N Athen, since its foundation in 2018. Her practice looks into the journeys of her female subjects, very often inspired by the lives of her own ancestors; how these experiences relate to history, myth and pop culture. Her work is also touching on perceptions around the fragility of the body, the passing of time, sexuality and fear. Very often she is using elements or characters from the horror genre reflecting on otherness and gender. The women in Amalia Vekri’ s work try to rise above their perishable and definite nature, and through rituals or magic potions, to possess super natural powers. Shifting in between states, they endure physical and spiritual trials in order to transform into beings without clear boundaries or gender.
Jaleeca R. Yancy (b.1990) is a contemporary artist working with mixed media, paper, and textiles. From Memphis, Tennessee, she currently lives and works in New York. Her abstract compositions are rooted in experimentation, radical imagination, and sustainability. She creates contemplative work prompted by self-identity, black culture, and mythology informed by history, literature, music, and spirituality. Her works have been exhibited at Knowhere Art Gallery, The National Art Club, Bronx Art Space, Superchief Gallery, Tone Memphis, and Urèvbu Contemporary. She has created public art murals for The Harlem Community Fridge supporting mutual aid for food insecurity, Paint Memphis, and Uptown Grand Central: Grand Scale Mural Project in Harlem. Yancy has had the opportunity to be an artist in residence with Art Crawl Harlem Studio Residency on Governors Island and Ma’s House based on the Shinnecock Indian Reservation in Southampton, New York. Recently premiered her first public sustainability sculpture with West Harlem Art Fund in Nolan Park on Governors Island.
Amanda Johnson is a South Bronx based artist and curator. She obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Fine Art with concentrations in Photography and Art History from Earlham College. Johnson recently received her Masters of Fine Arts in Photography from Parsons School of Design at The New School. In both her art and curatorial practices, Johnson draws influence from and creates conversations about Blackness, culture and the female identity in both the canon of art but social political and historical structures. Johnson has curated exhibitions nationally in New York, Miami, Houston, Washington D.C., and Indiana. She has also curated shows internationally for the Pingyao International Photography Festival in China and at Platform L in Seoul, Korea.
AVR7 Synopsis - A Cross Cultural Dialogue Between the AVR Fellows
Instagram Visual Conversation
Week 1: Femininity through the lens of folklore, ritual and spirituality
ARCAthens Virtual Residency 7
Visual Art Fellow, Jaleeca R. Yancy (b.1990) is a contemporary artist working with mixed media, paper, and textiles. From Memphis, Tennessee, she currently lives and works in New York. Her abstract compositions are rooted in experimentation, radical imagination, and sustainability. She creates contemplative work prompted by self-identity, black culture, and mythology informed by history, literature, music, and spirituality.
ARCAthens Virtual Residency 7
Visual Art Fellow, Amalia Vekri is a Greek artist based in Athens. Parallel to her own artistic practice she has initiated curatorial and publishing projects. She is also the programming director of Haus N Athen, since its foundation in 2018.
ARCAthens Virtual Residency 7
She looked at the mirror but her image was gone…Transparent and airy, she finally felt her ‘I’ dissolving while the world around her was disappearing…
I have been focused on utilizing labor-intensive techniques to uncover the profound truths about materials.
Natural pigments such as botanicals, minerals, plant matter, non-toxic metals, food waste, and upcycled materials. Presently in the studio, I’ve been working with indigo, hibiscus, madder root, golden rod, spirilla, beetroot, rose, French ochre havane (orange earth pigment).
Over the next few days, I will share my process.
My work is rooted in nature. I try to coexist with it to receive the abundance it offers. Foraging materials can be turned into fixatives, tannins, and dyes. These materials ignite my imagination!
Impressions of far away places…
…it was all covered with a purple light…during the night their emotions intensified and led them astray until the light came to take them…
I often go to the local library to conduct research and to find focus outside the studio. Lately, I’ve been tuned into #art21 season 11 for inspiration, and #wangechimutu feature is encouraging and informative.
Sourcing materials for the canvas is a rewarding process. Much of my fabric comes from @fab_scrap or thrifted from local shops around town. #nickcave is a consistent inspiration on how to source and use the resources that are out in the world.
…looking…through transparent…late at night… 🌕🌙
Week 2: Femininity through the lens of folklore, ritual and spirituality
Posted by Amalia Vekri
“A sacred space from within”
Natural dyes, salt, alcohol, and charcoal on wood panel
In progress… 🌒
🫧💦 … from Jane by Maggie Nelson
Rituals for sacred bathing #wip
🌬️💨💧
✨🫧
Florida Water – #wip
Week 3: Femininity through the lens of folklore, ritual and spirituality
Night time creatures 💧🌚
Reading African-American Herbalism by @lucretia.vandyke
Divine Hibiscus – Heart Chakra – Brewed Sorrel #wip
💦💧💨
‘Carmilla’ Sheridan Le Fanu, 1871 🧛🏻♀️
Fermented Madder Root on paper #wip
Studio table 💙
👀👁️
Playing with colour ✨
Wata Pixie, her song can be heard from the Nile River to the alluvial Tennessee Wolf River. Return to the water, she is there to wash away your weeping soul and rehydrate your energy – #wip
Reimagined spirits (1 of 3) created with orange clay, indigo, logwood, rose water, fermented hibiscus, and spirulina on paper.
Week 4: Femininity through the lens of folklore, ritual and spirituality
Women in Minoan Crete ruled the land and the household, while men were fearless seafarers.
Minoan goddess of fertility and sexuality
Women in Minoan Crete ruled the land and the household, while men were fearless seafarers.
Using orchid anatomy to illustrate love, luxury, beauty, and strength for the works on paper
Gestural paintings with Hibiscus and spirulina on paper. Listening to #tracychapman and reading #masaruemoto The Hidden Messages in Water
Dried roses a symbol of longevity and eternal love 💕
Dried roses 🥀 in vase
“Seed to tree, tree to forest; Rain to river, river to sea; Grubs to bees, bees to swarm. From one, many; from many, one; Forever uniting, growing, dissolving— forever Changing.”
#octaviabutler Parable of the Sower (Earthseed, 1)
Layered turmeric and indigo on paper
Unearthed Pixie, a gumbo of dimensional memory weaved together with prayers of root workers. She can be found floating ghostly above lush forest green landscapes. Mellow blues strings play like harps accompanied with gentle birdsongs as she transverse the southern lands. Come communion in nature with her when you need grounding ✨
Layered turmeric and indigo on paper
Trodden flowers 
details
Week 5: Femininity through the lens of folklore, ritual and spirituality
Final week of the virtual residency and it’s time to reveal the little paintings I was working on inspired by Greek nymphs and vampires ✨
Greek nymphs and vampires ✨
Developing the series “Working the Roots: Reimagined Spirit Pixies in Afro-American Art” for Virtual Residency 7 – Femininity through the lens of folklore, ritual, spirituality ✨ Working with various dried pigments and my favorite hibiscus on paper.
Reclaim and rediscover ✨ Spirit Pixies are birth from the whispers and prayers of root workers. The zeitgeist of 1619, elder pixies, and maturing pixies are blessings from the soils. They frolic among us visible to those in various emotional states, in meditation, in ritual/ceremony.
Reclaim and rediscover ✨ Spirit Pixies are birth from the whispers and prayers of root workers. The zeitgeist of 1619, elder pixies, and maturing pixies are blessings from the soils. They frolic among us visible to those in various emotional states, in meditation, in ritual/ceremony.
Final image to conclude this very inspiring residency 🧛🏻♀️ ✨ More Greek nymphs and vampires under the moonlight 🌙
And that is all, the final post of #AVR7
It has been an absolute honor to be part of this opportunity.
I’ve delved into a new way of working with my materials and creating new dynamic work for our theme – Femininity through the lens of folklore, ritual, and spirituality. Been a pleasure to hold space and be in conversation with @justanotherboredpanda and @amalia_vekri
Pictured are 3 of 5 Reimagined Spirit Pixies from the Working the Roots series created for this residency.
Be sure to tune in for the final presentation on Sunday, to view all 5 and learn all about how they came to life.
Follow me at @jry_designs ✨
Peace and love