Who Am I? - Katerina Savvides

Cyprus born artist trained in Chinese brushwork, batik and Indian ink, as well as in the western tradition of painting. I have exhibited in London, New York, Limassol and Amsterdam. My pursuit is generally intellectual and my execution generally emotive. I am predominantly a painter/ colourist although the medium of expression may vary. But more specifically, who am I? Am I what other people perceive me to be or am I who I perceive myself to be? Is it both? Are my external attributes i.e. social, economic, sexual orientation, physique etc. what define me or my interpersonal relationships? My interactions with other people, the environment and the current system? Am I who I am with the physical world or the abstract one? And who decides? Identity seems to be something that most of us search for, but I have come to an understanding that in fact it is a fleeting state of being.

In this body of work I am attempting to add a process to photography which enables me to work as if I were working a painting. I started this almost 8 years ago when I found myself constantly travelling from New York to London to Cyprus and back, spending equal time in all three but not allowing me enough time to set up oils and paint. I have taken thousands of photos from all over the world. All of people who earn their living through doing something creative. All well respected in their field. All living a life ‘outside the box’, in opposition or contradiction to the current system. I try to capture who they are not what they do. Once the photograph is taken, I then manipulate it on various digital platforms with various applications. I then print the photograph and physically work on it with watercolour, ink, pen, pencil, knife. A photo of the photo is then taken and the process repeated. Some photographs have gone through this process 50 times others 3, depending on the photo.