E SQUARED MAGAZINE, USA, ART & SCIENCE MAGAZINE
PEGGY KLIAFA
“This pharmakon, this “medicine”, this philter, which acts as both remedy and poison, already introduces itself into the body of the discourse with all its ambivalence.”
– Jacques Derrida, Plato’s Pharmacy
Peggy Kliafa’s art is constantly questioning one of the most ambiguous areas of science: medicine. Using a wide range of media, she plays with the philosophy of science, the therapeutic nature of medication, and its deification by modern man.
Peggy Kliafa’s work symbolically sheds light on a topic of great controversy – the use of medication in treating illness. Through a systematic and meticulous process, she takes advantage of pill variety and packaging to create impeccable geometric forms that are often revealed by light. Harboring the skill to elevate something as simple as pharmaceutical packaging into a work of art, Kliafa transforms what is common into the unusual. At first glance, Chandelier I appears to be an exquisite crystal light fixture, but approaching the form reveals that it is actually created from transparent gelatin pill-capsules. Resembling the stained glass of cathedrals, Remedy or Poison is assembled and mounted from pill blister packs. Regardless of her range of media, Peggy Kliafa seems to be paralleling the power of science to heal with medication to the power of art to heal with creation.
Obviously fascinated by medicine, Peggy Kliafa takes ready-made materials to another level – one that is of social concern. Kliafa exhibits regularly in Greece, and her work can be found in public and private collections around the world.
MULTIMEDIA ARTIST
ATHENS, GREECE
WWW.PEGGYKLIAFA.COM
