Artist's Talk: Chris Christodoulou 'In conversation'

About

When you think of ‘home’ where do you go? Beyond a structure with a roof, walls and windows - a structure that provides safety, warmth and security - home also evokes a ‘sense of belonging’, a place or time where you feel you are loved. It can also be an uncomfortable place, ‘unhomely’, a trap for some, laden with repressed memories and trauma. For me it’s an elusive place, a memory locked in the past, unattainable, an ideal that probably never existed in the first place. Exposing this nostalgia and longing for something lost or unreachable, my process is an exploration of the idea of home and my search to find meaning. I tap into my subconscious through my dreams and nightmares. I keep dream diaries of notes and images which provide a starting point for my work. These preliminary ideas evolve into layered narratives, often with recurring motifs. Printmaking is a brilliant way to play with repetition and change. I find the drypoint technique has the immediacy of drawing but with its velvety blurry line has a further transformational quality which, when combined with hand-wiped areas and chine collé, evokes the other worldly atmosphere of a dreamscape. I push this further by building up layers, letting images recede back into the paper or combining them in rich dark tones to create a haunting presence.