ELENI BAGAKI
Eleni Bagaki, visual artist and SNF ARTWORKS Fellow 2020, was selected by the team of the Luma Arles Residency Program for a 3-month residency (March -May 2024) to conduct research and carry out projects related to her artistic field. During her time in Arles, Eleni Bagaki aims to explore Camargue’s biota, study the distinctive southern light depicted in historical paintings of Provence, and further her research on the representation of the male figure by examining vintage French books from the 60s and 70s.
Eleni Bagaki is an artist based in Athens. She holds an MA in Fine Arts from Central Saint Martins University of the Arts, London. She has held solo exhibitions at the National Museum of Contemporary Art of Athens (2023); Open Sails, Chania (2022); Chauffeur Gallery, Sydney (2021); Eleni Koroneou Gallery (2021); Palette Terre, Paris (2018); Radio Athènes, Athens (2017 and 2015); Signal Center for Contemporary Art, Malmö (2016); and NEW STUDIO, London (2015). Her work has been included in the group exhibitions Sheltered Gardens, Diomedes Botanic Garden, PCAI, Athens (2022); Directed by Desire, Rongwrong, Amsterdam (2022); 9th Syros International Film Festival, Syros (2022); Prizing Eccentric Talents, P.E.T. Projects, Athens (2021); Seeping upwards, Rupturing the Surface, Art Gallery of Mississauga (2018); Millennial Feminisms, L’Inconnue, Montreal (2018); The Equilibrists, DESTE Foundation and NEW MUSEUM, Athens (2017), among others. Bagaki has been awarded the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Artist Fellowship by ARTWORKS (2020). She was also an artist in residence at Società delle Api, Grasse (2023); Hordaland Kunstsenter, Bergen (2020); Fogo Island Arts Residency, Canada (2019); IASPIS, Stockholm (2018); Pivô, São Paulo (2018); and Kantor Foundation (2017). Furthermore, Bagaki has published books such as Poems for Him (2023); Butter and Cracker, co-published by Miss Dialectic & Dolce (2022); She left. She left again. She left once more (2021); No Script (2017); and Look for Love and Find a Log instead, published by the Tadeusz Kantor Foundation, 2017.
Watch the video that shows Eleni Bagaki in her studio in Arles, during her residency, painting and working on her series What Bodies Want to Do. She explains her creative process, notably using books found in flea markets, and draws inspiration from street photographers of the 1970s and 80s.
Her paintings explore bodies, colors, and space, inviting the viewer to go beyond the canvas and enter an imaginary world. Launched in 2016, the LUMA Arles residency program welcomes, throughout the year and by invitation, artists, thinkers, researchers, dancers, filmmakers, writers, and curators from diverse backgrounds. Residents are invited to live in the heart of Arles, immersed in its millennia-old heritage and unique territory—from the Camargue to the Alpilles, via the Crau—as well as its cultural ecosystem.