- Eleni Kyriacou
HERO KANAKAKIS POSTHUMOUS EXHIBITION, NATIONAL LIBRARY OF GREECE
It was good to finally see Hero's first major exhibition since her death. I knew Hero personally and have previously written about her.
The exhibition highlighted Hero’s legacy from the perspective of her political leanings and the impact that politics had on her art and artistic development.
There was also a great video presentation where Hero is seen teaching her fine art students’ giving an insight into her thought process and experimentalism.
The exhibition was a great start to honouring her body of work, although a larger more comprehensive exhibition would be needed to truly do her artistic achievements justice. As I have previously discussed Hero was an immensely versatile artist. Her media ranged a great deal and included architectural murals and textiles. Neither of these sides of Hero could be represented in the show, simply because it was too small. In future however I would love to see these sides of her as an artist showcased. She was also a highly prolific artist and for a retrospective to represent her more accurately there would simply need to be far more of her work on display.
What was also great to see during the period the show was on at the SNFCC was the substantial national press coverage achieved recognising Hero, positioning her, as I believe she should be, as one of the greatest Greek female artists of the 20th century. Some of the coverage can be seen below.
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