Heleni Polichronatou

The art projects of Heleni Polichronatou combining word and image constitute multilevel creations which activate a compound way of thinking. The relation between image and word, backed by Roland Bart, can be either a relationship of equal process, where both mediums tell the same story, or complementary/ successively, where one of the two extends and enriches the information of the other. The flexibility and the diversity of meaning of the narrated image are anchored by the word in the interpretational channel that it opens. There by, in Polichronatou's projects, these two means are harmonically combined and develop a basic complementary relationship, offering the spectator a compass for him to navigate in the oceans of the messages that it releases. The melodic condensation of the geometric shapes, angles and curves, the clarity of color, the recurring motives and symbols, the symbolic references to the elements of nature, the human figure, the schematic stars, fish and birds scatter in space sketching a mental place which invites and challenges one to explore. Time, love, nature, man, everything inhabit our thoughts with a productive question of doubt. It is there where they all meet, confront with our self and compete for a little piece of our attention, there where their value is assessed. Word and image compose a significance which is interpreted in the spectators thought as a visual/ spiritual image, his own significance. The freedom in assumption and interpretation constitute the gift which Polichronatou offers to the audience through her art. What is obtained from anyone who pensively views the exhibits is his own personal route to his inner self and his path to self-knowledge.