The artist

Evi Savvaidi (b.1970, Rhodes) studied sculpture at the Athens School of Fine Arts (2004-2012) under Theodoros Papagiannis and Nikos Tranos. She studied the art of mosaic with Dafni Aggelidou and the art of glass at the Pilchuck Glass School Summer Sections, Seattle Washington USA (2010). She has also participated in workshops in Seattle, Boston and Prague. She has presented her work in 10 solo shows and participated in numerous group exhibitions including: Sky is the Limit, Sculpture by the Sea, Cottesloe Beach, Perth Australia,Bondi, Sydney 2019; Home Sweet Home, Water for Life International Art Exhibition, Niagara Falls History Museum, Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada, 2018; The Big Fish Eats the Little One, Sculpture by the Sea, Bondi, Sydney Australia, 2017; Diamonds Are Forever, Armani Hotel, Burj Khalifa, Dubai, 2017; Home Sweet Home, The Other Art Fair, Saatchi Art, London, 2017; From Caravaggio to modern days, Piazza Del Popolo, Rome, Italy, 2015; International Edition Art Fair, Hangaram Art Museum of Seoul Arts Center, Seoul, South Korea, 2014; Salon Art, Louvre Carrousel Centre, Paris, France, 2014; La Mostra Dentro la Torre Eiffel, Salon Gustave Eiffel, the Eiffel Tower, Paris, France, 2014; Art Monaco, Grimaldi Forum, Monaco, 2014; Florence Biennale: Ethics DNA of Art, Fortezza da Basso, Firenze, Italy, 2013; The Circle of Life, Affordable Art Fair, Metropolitan Pavilion, New York, USA, 2013. She has received several awards including: the Florence Biennale 2013: ‘Ethics DNA of Art prize’ for installation and the Palazzo Guicciardini Bongianni Florence ‘Botticelli Prize’. Savvaidi’s works are in private collections in Greece and abroad. She lives and works in Athens and Rhodes.

The projects

Evi Savvaidi: Earth lights (2020)
Text by Dr Kostas Prapoglou, curator
The proposal of Evi Savvaidi responds to the sense of touch as an expression of the human need for exploration and conscious awareness of the habitat we live in. Earth lights (2020) encompass the use of 3 glass sea-shells embedded in the floor of a public space area. Made of thick glass, 2 of them will illuminate white colour and one blue colour every time a visitor approaches and touches them. Referencing the passage of time filtered through notions of co-habitation and co-existence, the installation of Savvaidi will activate a dialogue not only between the viewer and the public realm but also the natural environment, which has now become more than ever an essential element in our contemporary reality.
Marine animals and specifically –on this occasion– seashells, imperatively partake in the visual language of Evi Savvaidi. The artist chooses to incorporate them as vital components in her sculpture giving the impression of a paradoxical fossilised formation that could have easily been some mysterious object in a museum’s public display. For Savvaidi, the seashell is a metaphorical vessel that conveys aspects of the life cycle and symbiosis. While she simultaneously poses questions on movement and migration, she also considers the relationship between humans and the natural environment. It impregnates a commentary not just on the urban backdrop of our location and its modification since ancient times but also on the endless exploitation of nature throughout the centuries with a catastrophic effect on its ecosystems led by fast growing urban communities. Recalling Deridda’s concept of hauntology, absorbs the replaced presence of being with its void equal in tandem with the origins of history and identity. The parabolical quality of Savvaidi’s sculpture becomes a tool for unveiling a parallel reality. It nestles among the viewer and the encircling habitat and acts as a pylon channelling a powerful interconnection and interdependence.