Totem taking off

Eleni Mylonas was born in 1944 in Athens. She initially studied at the School of Interpreters at the University of Geneva (b. 1966), did postgraduate studies in journalism at Columbia University of New York (1967) and in 1972 she obtained a degree in photography from the Polytechnic of Central London. Wanting to keep up to date and evolve, she attended courses in ceramics, photography, painting and sculpture. She taught for a number of years at Parson's School for Design in New York. Her art practice includes photography, video, performance, and sculpture, installations and environments. Having a background in journalism, which informs her artistic practice, she pursues, as she notes, her need to understand, to look directly where others turn away. "I follow and explore an event or experience that sparks my curiosity and imagination and inspires me to create bridges between different realities." Her first works were series of photographs of travels to different places, graffiti and naked bodies. In the 1980s she photographed Ellis Island in New York, which was an immigrant station, and exhibited this series at Zoumboulakis Gallery (1985) and at the Institute for Contemporary Art, PS1 Museum in New York. She created glass and iron constructions in which she placed photographs; since the 1990s she has incorporated the computer and video into her artistic pursuits, and performances are among her most recent works. Her exhibition activity is extensive both in terms of solo exhibitions and participation in group and international events. She lives and works between New York and Aegina.