Exploring folded surfaces
- Zoe is inspired by physically handling her materials
- She is trained to draw, carve, cut, fold, knot and sew with precision
- She never uses glue; her works are all sewn
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.
Discover her work
INTERVIEW
When I was a child, it was a great joy when my mother and I would sit together and go through our art books, looking at the reproductions. My favorite was Paul Klee. Could my mother have known the direction she was steering me towards?
I explore the play between surface and space. I like to provoke viewers to engage with the work; let it play with their perception. Often, I encourage the public to play with the work.
Many of my pieces can exist in multiple states and can radically change according to how they are displayed. Also, the works are sewn, I never use glue. What I love most about my art is when unexpected paths and discoveries reveal themselves while I am working.
I will never forget my astonishment when I unexpectedly saw my Leopard Moth reproduced on a five-storey high banner hanging on the facade of the Museum of Contemporary Art – Australia, announcing the 18th Biennale of Sydney.
