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Emi Avora is a Greek born, UK trained (Oxford University and Royal Academy Schools) and Singapore based artist. She has exhibited in the UK and abroad. Solo projects include the National Theatre of Greece Athens, South Square Arts Centre, UK, The Apartment Gallery, Athens, Greenberg Van Doren Gallery, New York and Gallery Truebenbach, Cologne. She has participated in a number of group shows including Studio Voltaire, London, The National Museum of Contemporary Art, Athens, The Whitechapel Gallery, London and the Macedonian Museum of Contemporary Art, Thessaloniki. Her work can be found in private as well as public collections in Europe and the USA, including The Wonderful Fund collection and Marsh collection. She has also been an Elizabeth Greenshields recipient and her work has been in various publications including ArtMaze Magazine, the New York Times, Future Now, Aesthetica Magazine and Defining the Contemporary, The Whitechapel in Association with Sotheby’s. Her work was recently included in Be. Long. Ing, an online exhibition, organised by ilikeyourworkpodcast.com, as well as featured on online platforms http://yngspc.com and www.thegreekfoundation.com. She recently had an online exhibition at www.sidexsidecontemporary.com. She is one of the 2020 Delphian gallery open call group exhibition winners and her work featured in the last publication of Friend of the Artist (FOA) and of Create! magazine. Her most recent shows were at Alliance Française, Singapore and at Ecole hôtelière de Lausanne, Singapore organised by Intersections gallery as well as at Nouri, Singapore curated by Yun Ten Sheet and Crux Galerie, Athens curated by Vassilios Doupas.
Published on March 19th, 2023. Artist responses collected in months previous.
What are you fascinated with right now?
My old professor, Brian Catling, who was an amazing performance artist/sculptor/poet and writer, sadly died recently. I am currently reading his book ‘The Vorrh’ which is an incredible piece of imaginary fiction and it is part of the Vorrh Trilogy- I am totally fascinated by it- by both the thematic and the language. Catling has almost a sculptural way to work with words that describe a lot of peculiar events that happen in or around the mythical expansive tropical forest called the Vorrh.
What advice would you give your younger artist self?
I would tell her not to overly rely on other people to promote her work, stop worrying, stop wasting time on boyfriends and enjoy the journey and the moments as much as possible. I would advise not to be afraid of not following the trend, or moving away from the center and trust her own gut feelings about work but also people. To be honest I still try to follow these instructions, they are not only for my former younger self.
What are your tools for creative resilience these days? Do you have any methods to stay positive when life becomes difficult and perhaps when you have limited time to create?
Having worked as an artist while on another full time job, on a part time job, while raising a family, during moving continents, during the pandemic (the list goes on), what is important to realize is that creativity never ceases for an artist, even if he or she don’t actively spend time in the studio, they are still observing, recording and processing things that have the potential to become art at some point. In order to stay positive and when I don’t have time to create, I embrace my everyday life because that is where my future work will emerge from. I keep notes or sketch, I take photos of seemingly mundane things hoping I might use them at some point. In that way I continue working even if I am seemingly doing other things.
What is your dreamy vision for your creative career and art practice three years from now?
I would love to work with a gallery or art professional that would help me have the time and the space to realize more ambitious work. At the moment I inevitably spend a lot of work on admin- I would love to be able to spend that time on the actual work instead. Still living in Asia I feel my work is becoming more and more concerned with the idea of crossroads between cultures and I would like to stay on that path and explore it more, albeit from a more personal angle.
How are you being kind to yourself as you look towards realizing your vision for your art career?
The truth is I am finding it hard to be very kind to myself. I know there is a need to be kind and self care and sometimes I feel I am self sabotaging by not getting enough rest or downtime. However, it is a fine balance for me between caring for myself and caring for my art as they are so entangled and codependent. I try not to take things very personally (easier said than done) and move on quickly to something else rather than ponder too much on why something did not work out. Also, I try not to compare myself to others as that can be a major demotivation.
What are you fascinated with right now?
My old professor, Brian Catling, who was an amazing performance artist/sculptor/poet and writer, sadly died recently. I am currently reading his book ‘The Vorrh’ which is an incredible piece of imaginary fiction and it is part of the Vorrh Trilogy- I am totally fascinated by it- by both the thematic and the language. Catling has almost a sculptural way to work with words that describe a lot of peculiar events that happen in or around the mythical expansive tropical forest called the Vorrh.
What advice would you give your younger artist self?
I would tell her not to overly rely on other people to promote her work, stop worrying, stop wasting time on boyfriends and enjoy the journey and the moments as much as possible. I would advise not to be afraid of not following the trend, or moving away from the center and trust her own gut feelings about work but also people. To be honest I still try to follow these instructions, they are not only for my former younger self.
What are your tools for creative resilience these days? Do you have any methods to stay positive when life becomes difficult and perhaps when you have limited time to create?
Having worked as an artist while on another full time job, on a part time job, while raising a family, during moving continents, during the pandemic (the list goes on), what is important to realize is that creativity never ceases for an artist, even if he or she don’t actively spend time in the studio, they are still observing, recording and processing things that have the potential to become art at some point. In order to stay positive and when I don’t have time to create, I embrace my everyday life because that is where my future work will emerge from. I keep notes or sketch, I take photos of seemingly mundane things hoping I might use them at some point. In that way I continue working even if I am seemingly doing other things.
What is your dreamy vision for your creative career and art practice three years from now?
I would love to work with a gallery or art professional that would help me have the time and the space to realize more ambitious work. At the moment I inevitably spend a lot of work on admin- I would love to be able to spend that time on the actual work instead. Still living in Asia I feel my work is becoming more and more concerned with the idea of crossroads between cultures and I would like to stay on that path and explore it more, albeit from a more personal angle.
How are you being kind to yourself as you look towards realizing your vision for your art career?
The truth is I am finding it hard to be very kind to myself. I know there is a need to be kind and self care and sometimes I feel I am self sabotaging by not getting enough rest or downtime. However, it is a fine balance for me between caring for myself and caring for my art as they are so entangled and codependent. I try not to take things very personally (easier said than done) and move on quickly to something else rather than ponder too much on why something did not work out. Also, I try not to compare myself to others as that can be a major demotivation.
Find Emi Avora on Instagram
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