The
princess
is dead
Installation
Athens | 2019
In this installation, titled “The day we will never forget”, Stratis Tavlaridis focuses on issues revolving around the process and ways in which collective memory is shaped, while simultaneously juxtaposing it with personal memory. Two monumental modern-day events that shook the globe and monopolized the news - 9/11 and the death of Princess Diana- are seen in relation to an infamous ancient tale of love and sacrifice, that of young Antinoos.
The boldface tabloid headlines over the shock of the collapse of the twin towers and the tragic end of the
People’s Princess function similarly -though at a different historical timeframe- as the marble sculptures of Antinoos that flooded the vast expanses of the Roman Empire, making his form familiar while also bestowing it with a mythical quality that would preserve it for eternity. Tavlaridis uses handmade paper and a surgical knife to cut out pieces of paper in order to achieve his oft-recurring motifs and combines image with text to present an original visual narrative about the dimensions of memory and time, history, and “myth”.
Photo | Giangos Papadopoulos
Text | Stratis Tavlaridis
