Froso Papadimitriou
Mother and Men
Mother and Men -found object, stone, iron 2010
Natural elements both yield in our will. We have used the stone to build and the iron to prevail, even upon our own world mother. But at what cost?
We learned fast to take but slowly to give and forgot to respect what offers us life. Day in day out we chip away pieces we made ourselves believe we depend on while building a life more complex and complicated.
Now more than ever the knowledge of the delicate balance between nature and our life has been highlighted and re-established worldwide. The experience of confinement, anxiety, and fear of a phenomenon we have no control over at the moment, should act as a catalyst in redefining our dependence on nature and the necessary respect for it. This work represents us and our relationship with mother earth.
About The Artist
Froso Papadimitriou was born in Thessaloniki, Greece where she studied applied arts, illustration/sketching, and graphic design. In 2006 she relocated to London to further her education, completing a BA (Hons) in Fine Art at Middlesex University and an MA in Arts Management and Policy, Curatorial and Educational pathway at Birkbeck University of London. Froso has collaborated with national and international galleries in the UK, Greece, Turkey, Germany, France, Italy, Finland, Netherlands, USA, Taiwan, Japan, and China. She has also contributed to various publications in Taiwan, the USA, Greece, the UK, Argentina and she has been a resident artist at Beckenham Place Mansion studios, London UK for 2 years.
Curator Comments
According to Professor Philippe Cullet from SOAS University of London, COP26 must move away from ‘sustainable development’ and return to the non-anthropocentric “Harmony with Nature” paradigm that was first coined 12 years ago. It was in 2009 that intergovernmental negotiations on the principles of Harmony with Nature were initiated and the first UN General Assembly Resolution on Harmony with Nature was adopted. It was in 2009 that UN member states acknowledged that the Earth and its ecosystems are our common home and that they expressed their conviction that it is necessary to promote Harmony with Nature. Since 2009, the aim of the General Assembly, in adopting its nine resolutions on Harmony with Nature, has been to define this newly found relationship with the Earth and with humankind's own existence. However, since the industrial revolution, nature has been treated as a commodity that exists largely for the benefit of people.
In his recent ICOP Policy Briefing Professor Philippe Cullet calls upon COP26 and all member states to address climate change in a collective manner rather than on the basis of their individual sovereign interests and stresses the importance of climate change adaptation measures to be structured around rights of individuals and communities as the international community remains divided along deep fault lines that run between the Global North and the Global South.
“The solar system reminds us that, just as the Earth is not at the center of the Universe, neither are we humans the center of the Earth. We, along with the rest of the natural world, are all interconnected within the larger web of life.”