Well known to our readers, Marina Gialama from Greece is a contemporary artist who uses various mediums, such as ink, charcoal, pastel, acrylic, plaster, or clay, to create expressionist sketches, paintings, and sculptures.
Her artworks focus on the human form in its most vulnerable and honest state—nakedness—creating an ode to the human body. “In my new series I create human figures resembling sculptures that intertwine with each other, exploring the boundaries of human relationships. Charcoal drawings on kraft paper are later translated into clay sculptures,” the artist explains.
Gialama’s new series explores the closeness of human bodies to the point of smothering, evoking a sense of deep codependency. The choice to execute these drawings on technical kraft paper suggests the mechanical allure of a long-term relationship devoid of love, one where nothing remains but a numb string of habit and the fear of being alone.
Another interpretation of the project could instead refer to complementary coexistence, rather than codependency. The intertwined figures seem to almost merge with each other. The boundaries between them are blurred, barely visible. Through the sketches, Gialama portrays the intrinsic human need for connection, almost a unification with others. Translating the two-dimensional drawings into sculptures serves as a representation of a developing relationship that becomes more complex and gains substance in time.
Read our “Aberration” issue in full
The 31 artists featured in RAWGUE. Magazine’s 5th issue stray from the expected, taking untrodden paths, contemplating imperfection, solitude in its many forms, and the ongoing process of self-acceptance. Through shifting perspectives, their works explore what it means to look at oneself from the outside, as if through broken glass.
We’re a team of writers using our craft to spotlight art in its most honest form. RAWGUE. started as a bi-monthly editorial experiment where each issue’s theme is dictated by the submitted work, thus removing editorial bias from the equation and preserving a more raw approach. We focus on all forms of poetry: written, photographed, painted, drawn, and filmed.
