Kleopatra Haritou

Kleopatra Haritou was born in Athens, Greece. She started her studies in Photography in NY (Hastings-on-Hudson High School), and was awarded by Pentax. She pursued photography in Athens and London (C.Saint Martins, London) acquiring her MA at GOLDSMITH’S College, under the supervision of the Historian of Photography, Ian Jeffrey. Narration is the key to her work, and she often embraces installations. Her main theme is the death of the social yet absent body. She has realized more than 10 solo exhibitions and participated in numerous group exhibitions. Her large-scale solo exhibition “Prosfygika” (“The Refugee Settlements of Alexandra’s Av.”) was presented at BENAKI Museum, Athens, and at the International Comics Festival, Athens, along with the original sketches of David Lloyd, “V for Vendeta”. She was voted by the Greek population as best Photographer of the year (Athens Voice awards). In 2016 she was commissioned by the Greek Ministry of Health to work with the homeless and drug addicts of Athens, during the financial crisis. She presented “ACROBATS”, ten photo installations in public space, under Acropolis.
She is now preparing her new large edition “Entry-Exodus” with the support of Onassis Foundation. The edition will be presented as a joint project with her documentary (in progress) “The praying mantis”, a documentary on the Athenian burial landscape and the human rights of the dead.
Kleopatra is part of the RICE School of Dance ON HYDRA Team, a school with no teachers, created by the academic social choreographer, Michael Klien (DUKE University). She is also a member of the poetry platform “assodyo”.

PROJECT
Κleopatra in the framework of the Four – plus One – Elements residency will collaborate with the historian Ioanna Parakevopoulou, whose research interests focus on the rights of the dead, ecological burials, and green cemeteries. Through the stories that they will explore in their joint research, they will discover the burial traditions of the island, which are connected with the natural landscape. The research aims to the installation of an imaginary cemetery in the abandoned village of Ishmael, made of materials from all over the island. The final installation will include “portraits” of the marbles of Tinos, audio documents from narratives of the dreams of the locals – who attempt a connection between sleep and death – and local edible customs.