"Alexandra Kehayoglou". Book Presentation at the Onassis Stegi Upper Stage
Published by Verlag der Buchhandlung Walther und Franz König
A special publication was presented for the first time at the Onassis Stegi on July 10, 2024. A book about the work of the world's leading artist weaver, Alexandra Kehayoglou. The presentation included a discussion with the artist and speakers from the fields of architecture, visual arts, anthropology, and fashion.
Photo: Andreas Simopoulos
How can you turn the need for change into art that brings hope instead of despair?
-Alexandra Kehayoglou
Featuring voices from the visual arts, activism, and textile worlds, this monograph is a port of entry into the work of the artist. Kehayoglou pictures the vanishing landscapes of her native South America through ancestral skills passed on by her Mediterranean forefathers. An activist in water and land preservation, river reclamation, prairie and wetlands defense, as well as coastal preservation, Kehayoglou uses images, crafts, and forms from nature and her loom to engage consciousness and inspire action.
Moments from the book presentation
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Photo: Andreas Simopoulos
Credits
Edited by Cornelia Lauf, designed by Luc Derycke, with production coordination by José Huidobro.
Texts by: Alan Belcher, Rodrigo Cañete, Tita Giese, Cornelia Lauf, Pedro de Llana, Christiane Löhr, Frank Loy, Shirin Melikova, Christian Phillipp Müller, Alexis Rockman, Dries Van Noten
Launched at Onassis Stegi, Athens, Greece, July 2024
Book Presentation Speakers
Alexandra Kehayoglou, Αrtist
Dr. Cornelia Lauf, Art Historian, Curator, and Publication Editor
Luc Derycke, Publication Designer
Dr. Virginia Matseli, Ethnologist, Social Anthropologist
Artemis Palaska, Gallery Coordinator, Onassis Culture
Photo: Andreas Simopoulos
Alexandra Kehayoglou is an Argentinian and Greek visual artist who works primarily with textile materials. Alexandra’s repertoire includes memories of various native and endangered landscapes that the artist has visited and desires to preserve over time. Her ‘pastizales’ (grasslands), fields, and shelter tapestries exhibit sublime realities that viewers can contemplate or utilize.
In 2014, Kehayoglou created a collaboration with designer Dries Van Noten. She developed a carpet of fifty meters long inspired by John Everett Millais’ “Ophelia.” In 2016, Kehayoglou presented “No Longer Creek” at Design Miami/Basel, decrying the decimation of the Raggio Creek in Buenos Aires. In October 2016, the work “Repoussoir for a New Perspective” was exhibited at the Onassis USA, New York, as part of the festival “Antigone NOW.” In 2017, the Triennial of the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, included Kehayoglou’s work “Santa Cruz River,” an interactive installation part of an extensive research project about the actual damming of the Santa Cruz River in the Argentinian Patagonia.Alexandra’s work is based on an ancient Greek family carpet-making tradition that traveled from Minor Asia to Argentina.
Photo: Andreas Simopoulos
