Zoe Keramea

Zoe Keramea’s professional training and explorations of printmaking have led her outside the confines of traditional painting, drawing and printmaking. Inspired by a Japanese student of hers and a young child who taught her how to make a crane by folding a paper napkin, as well as fold small square pieces of paper into tiny boxes, her works started transitioning from two to three dimensions. “There was a certain fascination in manipulating these flat surfaces into something that had volume,” she says. Later, she began making larger modular sculptures sewn together with thread. Zoe was chosen to represent Greece at the 18th Biennale of Sydney in 2012.

All of Zoe Keramea’s work deals with the manipulation of surfaces. These are overlaid, folded into themselves, cut or even tied in knots. Flat strips of paper are folded in upon themselves to form triangular dipyramids that are used as modules. These are then sewn together to form rigid or flexible sculptural works. Her works draw on a number of techniques learnt during her training at the Universitaet der Kuenste (University of the Arts) in Berlin and from experiences and technical experimentations afterwards. During her training, she was particularly interested in the use of traditional materials and techniques, and experimenting with new approaches to them. This is reflected in her work today, in which she uses traditional methods to create innovative and contemporary pieces of work that push material boundaries through persistent and repetitive elements.

For as long as Zoe Keramea can remember, she has loved creating objects with her hands. When she was six years old, her mother bought Zoe her first pair of professional scissors to make cut-outs and collages with. She still has them to this day, and they are still sharp.

Magnae Chartae Exhibition