Çiğdem Menteşoğlu

Cigdem M. Chatzoudas is interested in interpersonal concepts such as feelings and relationships or belonging, and in these paintings based on personal history intertwined with perceptions and interpretations, where one foot is in reality and one foot in the imaginary world, a surrealist and symbolic language stands out. The Pregnant Pause project is a tribute to the magical reality of Chatzoudas’ own pregnancy and birth experience.

The phrase Pregnant Pause expresses silence by describing a productive pause, that is, the process of transition, that heralds the coming of something new, surprisingly exciting that will follow. It is also used as a metaphor to describe the transitional period before the appearance of her work. It refers to a meditative state of reference, creativity, multi-layered intensive thinking; labor.

Pregnancy is a field of inquiry associated with subjectivity rather than a biological process; a gap, a threshold through which new experiences of a woman’s life will leak. The artist focuses on the feeling of alienation during this period of physical, mental and spiritual changes. In this first project of her work, which reflects/explores the complex relationship between mother and child starting with pregnancy, Chatzoudas strives to understand where the caregiver role stands and the area outside of it in the adventure of women becoming individuals.

She lives and works in Selanik.