illustrations

Your Love Kills/Η Αγαπη σου Σκοτωνει
lovekills

‘Love Kills’ photo shop illustration by Angela Zafiris

Lovekills1

Being loved can give us strength, but if the wrong person is loving us, then it can kill us.. so be careful who you give your heart out to.

The inspiration behind my digital collage was the ‘Economist’ magazine cover featuring the Greek goddess of love Aphrodite holding a pistol aimed at-not at me but at the German Chancellor Angela Merkel.  The image of Aphrodite de milo as well as her reputation has suffered rampant abuse by many European publications in recent years. Her image ‘hijacked’, and defaced to serve up hostile messages from science and business magazines that were targeting financially strapped Greece.  The irony in all this is that we are not talking about love, but about money. They could have used Hermes who is the god of commerce, financial gain and he’s also the messenger so it would be more fitting to use him to deliver the message, but instead the goddess of love was used. Is it because business people love money? So with so much hostility for Greece why didn’t they use (abuse) Ares the God of war? The many statues of Ares are very famous too. A few are located at the same museum, the Louvre in Paris, as the ‘Aphrodite de milo’. Perhaps Ares wasn’t used because he looks too strong to represent Greeks. On the other hand, Aphrodite looks more vulnerable because she is a woman and nude.  I know it’s sexist, but we are living in a hostile patriarchical society.. so I guess I just answered my previous question.

I guess a small positive side in all of this is that it inspired my art. I thought I would use her image as well and put her in a more fitting scene where she is not out of her element since she was born in the ocean.

Angelaeconomist

I laughed a lot when I saw this cover. Yes, I will make your day!

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And the award for the rudest cover of them all goes to..

The Modern Woman/Η Συνχρονη Γυναικα
Collage on canvas by Angela Zafiris

Collage on canvas by Angela Zafiris

High heels
Red lips
She’s careful to never slip
Chin up in the air when she walks
The confidence in her talk
Her ‘multi-tasking’ ability
She’s mastered the code between women
Closeness to the creation
Her love of pretty things
Long hair shining in the sun
Her obsession with beauty
Critical of her body
A career,  marriage and children
All happen so effortlessly
Her pride
Her ego
Are as strong as any mans’.

The modern woman, so much is expected from her. To be everything and to do everything.  She is not simple, she’s very complicated.. I can go on and on about her. The discussion is never-ending.

FYI-The words in Greek are ‘Woman or child?’, ‘Goddess within’ and ‘fearless’.

Egocentric/Ο Εγωκεντρικός

Collage on paper by Angela Zafiris

I was inspired to make this collage after thinking about the ego. The ‘ego’, from the Greek word ‘Εγω’ ‘I,’ can propel us to do great things in our lives. We can reach great heights, higher stations in life. But, too much egotism, and an overuse of the word ‘I’ can bring about a great downfall. There should be a balance and we must think of the group. We have always been part of a group. We are tribal people and forever will be, even though many modern people have taken solitary paths.  I believe that we are at our most happiest when what we do benefits the group, because that’s what we have always been doing on this earth. Every one of our actions was for the benefit of the group.

 “The problem is that we have allowed our egos, the part of us which believes that we are separate from God and separate from each other, to dominate our lives.”

~ Wayne Dyer