Exhibition: Smyrna: Longings for a Lost Motherland

Exhibition: “Smyrna: Longings for a Lost Motherland” 5 Σεπτεμβρίου 2013 στις 2:45 μ.μ.

We are proud to announce that the exhibition “Smyrna : Longings for a Lost Motherland”, by artist Anne Spileos Scott* is now hosted at the Consulate General of Greece in Boston (86, Beacon street MA 02116). The exhibition will run from September 5th until October 30th. Visiting hours: Every day: 09:30 – 13:30 and Thursday 14:30 – 16:30. “Longings for a Lost Motherland” is a series of multi-media collages which illuminate the history of three thousand years of Hellenic culture in Asia Minor (Turkey today). The title refers to the Asia Minor Catastrophe of 1922 and the Lausanne Treaty of 1923, as we acknowledge the Ninetieth Anniversary of both historical events. The main thesis of the exhibition is the unfulfilled universal longing which forever remains in the hearts of the people of all cultures which have been separated from their source of origin, their mother country. There is a universal feeling of attachment to a place which reflects the true cultural identity of an individual. This history is passed down through generations of families. An incurable nostalgia develops when there is a sudden and tragic uprooting from the ancestral home. Deep rooted emotions are further intensified if the survivors are exiled. One can perceive the similarities in many of the major peace accords which were written in the twentieth century. They include the grand solution prescribed in the Lausanne agreement, to exchange populations based on one factor alone, religion. The Lausanne Treaty became the model for most conflict resolution in the twentieth century. It was the first treaty to forcibly exchange populations in such immense number. *Anne Spileos Scott, born, raised and educated in Boston, has been creating artworks with sociopolitical themes for more than thirty years. In the year 2000 she was nominated for both the Whitney Biennial in New York and the Maud Morgan Prize from the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. In 2001, she became the second recipient of the Jerome Lyle and Phyllis Rappaport Prize from the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park in Lincoln, MA. with a $20,000.00 grant for new work.