Hydra 

Editor: We’re looking at “Hydra,” a painting by Periklis Vyzantios. It looks like a watercolor and oil painting of a cityscape. It feels dreamlike and almost unfinished. What stands out to you? Curator: The layering of watercolor and what appears to be oil creates a palimpsest of history, doesn’t it? "Hydra" is presented. How might the artist's choice to depict architecture in such a way –sketch-like, unfinished - connect to a broader historical understanding of urban development and its impact on identity and belonging? Are we seeing the negotiation of space, a claiming, or perhaps a questioning of ownership? Editor: That's a really interesting point, ownership. I hadn't thought about it that way. It feels almost like he's mapping a territory but without really defining its borders. Curator: Exactly. And that territory, "Hydra," wasn’t just a physical space; it’s a contested one, built upon layers of culture, power, and memory. Think about who had access to the space in the depicted time period, what narratives are promoted? Who gets to tell those stories and whose perspectives are absent from the mainstream representation? Does this work participate or does it resist the traditional mode of historical documentation? Editor: So you're saying the way the artist depicts Hydra, with its imperfections and in-between spaces, can reflect this political dimension and whose version is prioritised? Curator: Absolutely. Vyzantios invites us to consider not just what we see, but *how* we see and who controls that vision. We can connect the aesthetics to ethics here – who inhabits this Hydra, literally and figuratively? And who gets to represent them? Editor: This definitely makes me want to dig a little deeper into this location and think critically about the ways spaces can represent certain viewpoints, but silence others. Thank you for offering me your knowledge. Curator: The pleasure is all mine, the key is to never assume any single vision represents "the truth".