DEO Projects, the first contemporary art institution in Chios, is pleased to present its artistic
programme for summer 2023 in collaboration with Chios Ephorate of Antiquities. The programme
consists of a large-scale group exhibition which will take place in two monumental venues within the
Castle of Chios, the Temenos Hamidiye & the Ottoman Baths, with the participation of twelve artists
from Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, Iran, and Cyprus and eight new commissioned works. An extensive
public programme with screenings, talks, performances, guided tours, and educational activities will
accompany the exhibition throughout its duration from July 8 th until August 28 th , 2023. In addition, the
Commission Series Programme resumes for the third-year edition, with a two-month residency and
commissioned work - a live performance by an artist from Ecuador, marking her first presentation in
Greece.

My Past is a Foreign Country
Group exhibition
July 8 th – August 28 th
Chios Castle, Chios town, 82 100
Exhibition Venues: Temenos Hamidiye & Ottoman Baths
Participating artists:
Hera Büyüktaşcıyan (TR), Stelios Faitakis (GR), Avish Khebrehzadeh (IR), Maro Michalakakos
(GR), Petros Moris (GR), Dala Nasser (LB), Nikomachi (GR), Yorgos Petrou (CY), Aykan Safoğlu (TR),
Mounira al Solh (LB), Maria Tsagkari (GR), Abbas Zahedi (UK/IR)
Curated by Akis Kokkinos, Founder of DEO Projects.
 
DEO Projects in collaboration with Chios Ephorate of Antiquities presents My Past is a Foreign
Country, a group large-scale exhibition presented between two historical monuments within Chios
Castle, the Temenos* Hamidiye and the Ottoman Baths, both inherited by the Ottoman Empire. The
exhibition invites twelve artists from Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, Iran, and Cyprus to reflect on the
palimpsest histories of the island and examine borderland cultures, collective traumas, and forms of
iasis**.
 
Eight of the twelve participating artists were commissioned to create new works for the exhibition
drawing inspiration from the venues’ history, the island’s collective memory and the linkage between
the Eastern Mediterranean peoples’ histories and the global community. Through eight in-situ new
works, four existing works and a plurality of mediums - including sculptures, paintings, textiles,

ceramics, installations, and photography – the invited artists touch upon the conflicted historical
imaginations and the memory that they construct. Resisting geo-political anxieties, the artists form
cross-cultural intimacies and highlight collective solidarity and kinship while strengthening forms of
representation and inclusivity within the diverse social fabric of Chios.
The exhibition pays tribute to the monuments’ genealogy and explores historical incisions and
connections with current socio-political events in the neighbouring regions of south-eastern
Mediterranean and the Middle East.  Temenos Hamidiye (or Mbairakli mosque) was rebuilt to honor
the victims of the Chios earthquake of 1881 and its devastating effects, which heavily impacted the
whole island, including the two exhibition venues. Inevitably the recent destructive earthquakes in
Turkey and Syria create associations with the island’s past, by drawing connections between these
natural disasters and their socio-political aftermaths. The exhibition highlights the enduring impact of
such events on vulnerable communities across time and borders and offers a space for grief,
mourning and reflection on the human condition which unites us all with the past, with each other
and with the here and now; while at the same time it sheds light to the resilience of the human kind
and the powerful story telling of local communities which enhances the narrative of the global
community.  On the other side, The Baths served as a site of cultural and social exchange and a place
of cleansing in the lives of Chios Castle's inhabitants during the Ottoman Empire. In the 20 th century,
both venues, the Baths and the Temenos, were used as sanctuary for refugees from Asia Minor during
the exchange of populations. Today, the activation of the Eastern Mediterranean pathways, led to
refugees being temporarily hosted in the Castle's entrance located in a walking distance from the
venues before settling in the hot spot facilities outside the city of Chios. 
The exhibition borrows its title from the opening phrase: the past is a foreign country; they do things
differently there, in the novel the Go-between by L.P. Hartley, published in 1953. The phrase has
extensively been used in other publications, screenings, films, talks, music albums including Zeba
Talkhani's memoir on growing up in Saudi Arabia and her quest for freedom through education in
India, Germany and England. The multiplicities of the title’s origin, and the specificity into the Chios
context, provide new strands of meaning into how we deal with the past, the overlooked, and the
forgotten. 

*Temenos: From Ancient Greek τέμενος (témenos). A piece of ground surrounding or adjacent to a temple; a
sacred enclosure or precinct. 
Temenos in Greek is mostly used as a reference to a Mosque.
**Iasis: Originally from Ancient Greek ἴασις (íasis). A Latin word-forming element meaning "process" or "morbid
condition". Ancient Greek word for Healing.

DEO and its 2023 Summer Programme have been generously supported by:
Major Donors: Stamos J. Fafalios, Theodore Fatsis & Maria Apodiacos, Yiannis Skoufalos &
Maria Kalomenidou, Patron: Constantine Logothetis, Supporter: Irene Panagopoulos, Young
Patrons: Tina Livanos, Constantin Pavleas and Eugenia Vandoros.
Complimentary support by Alex Haidas and Angelicoussis Foundation.