
The artist
Smyrnaki Anna Maria is a professional artist who graduated from the Department of Visual and Applied Arts of the School of Fine Arts of Thessaloniki with distinction and specialization in Painting (with renowned professors K. Katzourakis, G. Tsakiris, V.Vassilakakis and M.Venetopoulos).
She is also currently engaged in postgraduate studies in the Interdepartmental Postgraduate Program “Art and Public Sphere” with the participation of the Department of Visual and Applied Arts and the Department of Political Sciences of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki with a major in “Artistic Actions and Practices”.
She has taken part in group exhibitions in Athens, Thessaloniki, Cyprus, Paris, at MMST, as well as in numerous art venues (Lola Nikolaou, Technochoros, Zina Athanasiadou, Bey Hamam, Space 18, Spyral, Is not gallery in Cyprus). Her works are mainly paintings and installations.
Through her works, she self-analyses and through her experiences her works evolve while at the same time she also evolves through her works. On the canvas, which becomes a place of performance and interior research, Smyrnaki Anna Maria pours an entire universe. Perspective control, a unique interpretative approach and simplicity of expression ensure immediate empathy with the observer.
In trying to encapsulate the philosophy behind her work, Anna Maria quotes the following words from Little Gidding by T.S. Eliot.


“
We shall not cease from exploration And the end of all our exploring Will be to arrive where we started And know the place for the first time.
The work
The works of Smyrnaki Anna Maria are anthropocentric, self-referential, surreal and clearly autobiographical: she takes inspiration from her memories and philosophical readings.
Human landscapes with a subtle visual language full of playful mood, conceptual thoughts, asymptotic recalls, cohesive bonds and spiritual inner paths, open up another dimension. In a vision between the real and the unreal, there are also selected symbols which deviate from their original destination and expose an intimate version of the artist with hidden meanings.
These human landscapes, with their visual language rich in moods and spiritual inner paths, open up a dimension that goes beyond the initial comprehension, beyond the obvious, beyond the visible.

Through the lens of an art historian / curator / critic
The autobiographical work-portraits of Anna Maria Smyrnaki are condensed micro-narratives, which sharpen our inner vision and introduce us to her own unique artistic world.
With peculiar stylistic features, it conveys the experience of persons, visualizes their inner mood towards the world and circumstances, giving the impression that we hear their thoughts loudly, with so much truth that it covers the distance between reality and fiction. Narrative in simple form, ensures immediacy, persuasiveness and realism, giving it a confidential character and being a dynamic element of its visual language.
An artistic practice that penetrates the desire, the body, the unconscious, the pleasure, the everyday experiences and the disguised myths, with a personal touch and a poetic interpretive approach, with energy and persuasion, with formal clarity, perspective control and simplicity of expression. A practice that indicates charming individual elements of the place, while at the same time selectively concealing others, clearly expressing its intentions for the performance of an inner vision.
As the artist herself states “The background ceases to be an empty region and is transformed into speech. An important role is assigned not so much to the space itself but rather to the ability of memory to express emotions through written words”.
The canvas, apart from being a place of performance of the visual act, becomes a place of flows, a place of empowerment of the inner force for the search and discovery of one’s self, a place of imprinting personal anchorages, a place of opening one’s self to the primordial force of resistance and survival.
Her paintings are an extension of her life’s experiences whose references get translated into occasions of creation. Everyday objects, cut off from their frame of origin, are placed in such a way so that the established way of looking at them is undermined while at the same time acquiring symbolic content and ambiguity. In an unidentifiable and unrecognizable domain between the real and the unreal, exposed to multiple narratives, they deviate from their original destination and expose with a personal subversive version of the artist, hidden messages and meanings.
With a violent tenderness, the work-portraits of Anna Maria Smyrnaki document a peculiar realism with deeper meaning and a poetic dimension which constantly transform from visual narratives to speech and storytelling.
Art historian / curator