Dimitra Gounari

Greece

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limited edition

“Composing Images” 2021-2023

These photographs are part of an artistic work based on the relationship
between individuals and the natural environment. As an artist working primarily with
the photographic medium, I pay considerable attention to exploring the interaction
between people and the place they live in, which I express in a deconstructive way of
representation.
This project took place in 2021-2022 on the Greek island of Evia that is my
home place. I wandered around many beaches to find the right places. Mirrors were
used for the photoshoots, which were integrated into the surrounding space, in order
to create multiple observations for the viewers. There are reflections of certain parts
of myself and my young daughter, as an attempt to incorporate my personal
experiences into the place where I come from.
Most of the photographs have been manipulated at an editing software, as I
am trying to compose a more complex environment where real can be integrated with
imaginative scenes for the creation of a new space.

Dimitra Gounari is a PhD candidate in the Department of Sound and Image of the
Ionian University in Greece, holds a Master of Arts in Image and Communication
from Goldsmiths College-University of London U.K., with a scholarship from the
Greek State Scholarship Foundation I.K.Y., and is a graduate of the Department of
Photography of the Athens University of Applied Sciences, Greece. She has taught at
the Department of Photography and Audiovisual Arts of the University of West
Attica, the Visual Arts course at the IB Diploma and is an IB DP Visual Arts examiner.
Her artistic work has received distinctions and awards from several institutions and
competitions. She has exhibited in Greece, Belgium, Switzerland, the United
Kingdom etc and been published in catalogs in the Greek and international press.
Her work can be found in private and public collections.

Dimitra Gounari is a PhD candidate in the Department of Sound and Image of the
Ionian University in Greece, holds a Master of Arts in Image and Communication
from Goldsmiths College-University of London U.K., with a scholarship from the
Greek State Scholarship Foundation I.K.Y., and is a graduate of the Department of
Photography of the Athens University of Applied Sciences, Greece. She has taught at
the Department of Photography and Audiovisual Arts of the University of West
Attica, the Visual Arts course at the IB Diploma and is an IB DP Visual Arts examiner.
Her artistic work has received distinctions and awards from several institutions and
competitions. She has exhibited in Greece, Belgium, Switzerland, the United
Kingdom etc and been published in catalogs in the Greek and international press.
Her work can be found in private and public collections.

Statement

“Composing Images” 2021-2023
At this series of photographs, in order to highlight a new multi-layered perception of
the reality, where the different components reconstruct our interactions with the
"other" and the natural surroundings, the body and the landscape are presented in
multiple deconstructions in a jumble of reflections. The use of mirrors is critical in
building a complex yet fragile world in which individual's exploration is dominating
and vital.
Dimitra Gounari presents a series of new photographic landscapes embodying multilayered perspectives with the use of mirrors and the digital manipulation. By using
mirrors, she invites viewers into the artist's world and makes them feel part of her
experience. The body and the landscape are presented in multiple deconstructions in
a confusion of reflections in order to highlight a new multi-layered interpretation of
reality, where the different parts recreate our relationships with the 'other' and the
natural landscape. Dimitra Gounari states: "Mirrors, which complete the landscape,
act to break down our fixed perceptions of our world, while at the same time they
offer new dynamics for a new repositioning of human coexistence with the natural
landscape. The mirror represents fragility and the exploration of 'self' which is
always a starting point for me."
By creating composite digital photographs, the artist want to appeal to a different
approach where parts of reality are incorporated into imaginary images calling the
viewers to participate to this ‘game’ of complexity.