Alexandra Christou MA Illustration
My work is engaging with the concept of dreams as a symbolic portrayal of our unconscious mind and explores themes of transformation and identity. I hope to lead the viewer into a state of self-reflection, to lead them to make their own connections and look beneath the “constructed materiality” to the surreal reality below.
My practice includes a lot of reflection, exploration and experimentation and I mostly enjoy working with mixed media, blending traditional with digital media.
In my animations and illustrations, the viewer faces otherworldly scenes that are often a part of an uncanny narrative. They also encounter ideas and images mined from my unconscious, depicting transition of thoughts and emotions, exploring contradictions like the familiar and the unfamiliar, the fish and the bird, imprisonment, and freedom, hope and despair, dream, and reality. The constant metamorphosis of the character explores ideas of transformation and identity and are based on a personal symbolism. Moreover, the transformation from human to bird, and from a bird to a fish (a common characteristic of my work), indicates opposite desires-to be at once earth, sky and water bound, exploring a new sense of freedom and the multidimensionality of one’s identity.
My work is engaging with a personal subject however, I believe, that the reflection on dreams and their link to the unconscious provide a space for self-exploration, and it is the perfect vehicle for those looking to bring to the surface what lies submerged.
