CHIOS— A project founded by the Arts Council England and with support from the Masticulture agency. A 12-week artist residency in Chios, Greece.

The project aimed to witness and better understand continuity and change in a rural context; my activity was indexed to exploring the folk and ethnic mores of Chios reflected in the handmade and craft objects related to the island's unique mastic culture and architecture. In effect, I interrogated how the material makings of local people combined to define the landscape of its community culture and how its residents reveal and renew their personal and cultural ties through these traditional arts.

The tradition of Tree dressing is found in many old customs from all over the world. Nowadays, its purpose often aims to encourage the celebration of trees not only in the rural countryside and village green but also in the city, anywhere in the public domain. It highlights our responsibility for looking after trees and reminds us of their enormous cultural and environmental importance.

In common with my previous projects, Kendos engages with aesthetic and cultural responsiveness to place/situation to bring attention to the often overlooked poetry and metaphors of our everyday experience and renovate the familiar sights into something new and unexpected.

Kendos. 2008. - Artist in residence at Mesta Chios, Greece.