I had the honor to participate in the 2024 Athens Jewelry Week – JELO6 Project as part of the “Declaration of Sentiments” project and exhibition. I was invited to converse with this team in 2023 when the origial exhibition was held at Uni.Versus Art Room in Athens Greece.

What is Declaration of Sentiments?

“Declaration of Sentiments” is a project originally conceived and curated by the Turkish group Co+Lab: Burcu Sulek, Nevin Arig, and Snem Yildirim. It took its name from the Declaration of Sentiments at the Seneca Falls Congress, held in 1848 under the leadership of Elizabeth Cady Stanton. This declaration, signed by 100 men and women, stands as the first organized women’s rights record in history, advocating for equal rights for women.

The curators of the “Declaration of Sentiments” brought together 20 women artists who have used and continue to use jewelry as a medium within the context of the gender-based struggle for women in the art environment. These artists, not hesitating to embrace hard work, have persevered in their artistic pursuits, earning esteemed positions at art academies, organizing international events, establishing galleries or exhibition spaces, and achieving much more.

Nevin Arig, Erica Bello, Klara Brynge, Sofia Björkman, Jessica Calderwood, Melissa Cameron, Cata Gibert, Gesine Hackenberg, Yajie Hu, Mari Ishikawa, Helena Lehtinen, Anna Lewis, Eija Mustonen, Sondra Sherman, Burcu Sülek, Niki Stylianou, Fatima Tocornal, Tarja Tuupanen, Eva Van Kempen, Snem Yildirim.

After traveling to different European cities, the exhibition concluded its journey at Uni.Versus Art Room in Athens. It was then that we decided to give the project a new perspective.

Amid the continuous news of violence against women and children worldwide, bombarding us through the media, we believe it is the right time to raise our voices too. Opting for love and creativity over any form of violence, and embracing differences (of age, sexuality, skin color, nationality, religion, etc.), we invited jewelry makers from around the world to draw inspiration from the 20 women who chose to participate in the first edition of the project, encouraging them to #liveandevolvespeakinglovenotwar.

“Declaration of Sentiments: A New Dialogue” is thus a group exhibition that speaks to equal human rights and dreams of a creative world that respects women and embraces female energy. The exhibition was curated by Niki Stylianou and Sofia Zarari.

About my participation and piece

I decided to converse with “Daily Obedience Routines“ of Snem Yildirim by creating a necklace (or a banner-flag) that refers to the traditional Greek embroidery women used to sew for home decoration. They would write messages on them to encourage or to preach to other people (mostly women). I braided a colorful surface and sew the word PREPEI (“prepei” means “you must”) and a large eye on the one side. On the other side of the banner I wrote the word OXI (“ochi” means NO) as a counteraction to the first command. While the “PREPEI” side is symmetrical and strict the “ΟΧΙ” is free and doesn’t follow any rules.

PREPEI

Necklace

Felt, Thread, Silk, Pigments, Branch

And A Few Jelo6 Moments

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