The artwork “hybrID” is based on the hybrid nature of Greek identity. Around the perimeter, are juxtaposed images that attempt to visualize the “contradictory” relationships or “realities” that coexist in the Greek state: Orientals/Europeans, Greeks/Romioi, Orthodox Christianity (monotheism)/Classical Greece (polytheism) that Herzfeld speaks of. To this contradictory hybrid condition, Vassos Argyrou adds the dipole of tradition/modernity, which is captured by the media used to create this work: the hybrid coexistence of the analogue and the digital. At the center of the artwork a reference is made to Mureşan’s palimpsests that deconstruct and reframe historical works, using the art platform as a mode of critique and intervention. More specifically, by the use of found images depicting works of the classical era and elements of folk tradition to create a palimpsest, visuality is given to elements of folk tradition, by contrasting them with antiquities. The aim of this juxtaposition is the deconstruction of the national imaginary, which according to Hamilakis is a selective process for the production of national memory, in which specific moments in time are recalled, while others remain in oblivion.
Presented in the group exhibition: “I send you CPT Apple: Fine art conceptions of tradition in contemporary Greece.” At the Angeliki Hatzimichali Museum of Folk Art and Tradition of the Municipality of Athens. 6 July–3 August, 2025. Curated by Fotini Dalavouki.