ANCA Artist Profile - Elefteria Vlavianos Painter   C.V. – Arts’ Practice - Elefteria Vlavianos- Ria   1968 Born, Zimbabwe 1973 Emigrated to South Africa 1989 Emigrated to Australia – Adelaide Education 2002 BA ( Visual) with 1st class Honours (Painting), National Institute of the Arts, Australian National University 1994 BA with Honours (Politics), University of Adelaide Exhibitions   Solo Exhibitions 2004 – Sept. “82 Days”,  ANU – Foyer Gallery – Institute of the Arts 2004- August “Intersection”, ANCA Gallery Canberra 2003 – July “Placement”, ANCA Gallery Canberra   Group Exhibitions 2006 - April “picture this: ANU School of Art Painting Alumni 2000-2006” ANU School of Art Gallery, Canberra 2002 “Freshly Squeezed”, Graduating Exhibition, National Institute of the Arts, Australian National University 2001 Drawing Exhibition, CSA Foyer Gallery, ANU Canberra   Awards   Emerging Artists Support Scheme (ESSA) 2002 The EASS Embassy of Spain Travelling Scholarship (to Spain) 2002 The EASS M16 Residency Award 2002 The EASS ANCA Exhibition Award   Collection EASS Patrons Embassy of Spain; ACT Legislative Assembly, KPMG, Chamberlain Law firm; Network Economics Consulting Group; Animal Health Australia Private Collections Canberra, Sydney, Spain, Malta, Vienna Interviews Radio- Aug 2004 2xx – with Sylvie Stern for “Intersection” Radio – Jul 2003 2xx – with Sylvie Stern for “Placement”   Reviews Artlook   Intersection by Chris Chapman – Aug 2004 –www.artlook.com.au Muse “Placement” by Lisa Byrne – Aug 2003 -www.musemagazine.com.au Canberra Times “Exploring complex cultural links”,  by Sonia Barron – July 2003 Studio Practice: Currently a member of, and have a studio at, the Australian National Capital Association Inc. – (ANCA) in Dickson:   Artist Statement   Maria Fernandez writes that “the connection between displaced people and the objects they access, pass on, or inherit are often used to layer memories and are displayed to evoke that which has been forgotten or in danger of being lost altogether.”[1]     Inheriting a culture and cultural identity that has been displaced is complex. Keepsakes are often the residual elements that function in present time as reminders of the past. I consider the keepsake as objects or images that occupy the space between absence and presence, between reality and fiction and between that which is fixed and fluid.   Drawing inspiration from the Armenian Alphabet[2] and 11 Century miniature manuscript paintings I continue to investigation the broader themes of inheritance, cultural displacement, memory and loss. I am aware that cultural keepsakes as a metaphor of a distant place and culture are undermined by the separation of time and space.  As such I explore the tension between the need to fix an image into reality and the inability of ones memory to recall the past in its entirety.      I work in a multiplicity of layers and note the tension that emerges between the need to conceal and the need to reveal what lies beneath each layer. I consider the individual marks that I use as a process of “stitching or tacking” as well as a “cross hatching or knighting” script across the surface in an attempt to salvage and retrieve fragments from a past.  I think of my work as being contemplative, evocative and associative. I work mainly in acrylic and oils on canvas.       [1] Fernandez Maria,  “Hart and Hearth: Enduring Domesticity and Memorial Display on the works of Leslie Hakim-Dowek” in Artlink, Vol 19,1999 p 15-25 [2] The Armenian Alphabet was developed in 401- 406 c.e. by St. Mesrob Mashtots