TAF / The Art Foundation is pleased to present the group exhibition entitled Purple Hearts, Black Smiles curated by ammophila, which will take place at our exhibition space from Wednesday 22 March to Sunday 9 April 2023.

Sometimes our hearts feel like purple, they function incessantly as dwellings of love, they fill, they swell, they send messages of attraction, they deny shame, they run towards chaos. What does a purple heart feel like? Purple color is traditionally associated with supremacy, power and dominance but at the same time with decadence and decay. Our smiles alternate in place and time. In everyday moments they express condescension, familiarity, resilience and optimism. They express insecurity, when we seek reciprocity, self-control in case of tension, self-discipline in case of emergency, dominance and composure towards our interlocutor when we are verbally attacked. The pressure of collective consciousness produces a stereotype of our daily behavior and at the same time shapes the aesthetic standards of our external appearance, connecting "smile" with "beauty" and “goodness”. Lack of smiling constitutes a type of morphological and social deviation. This dominant perception is reversed through an established superstition which is the interpretation of laughter in dreams. In dreams, smiling and laughter are considered bad omens for whoever laughs and they should be careful as unpleasant situations, pressure and trouble might come. In a rational context, a "clear" smile implies a "good heart" and determines the reception of ourselves at a primal level by the social groups with which we are involved. A purple heart might speak to us of morality, calmness, dominance and sadness. The black color, contradictory for a smile, dark and elegant, is simultaneously associated with mystery, death, fear and power.

In the exhibition entitled “Purple Hearts, Black Smiles”, Margarita Bofiliou, Evi Roumani, Nana Sachini and Mary Zygouri negotiate the ambiguity of generalized perceptions that categorize spaces, behaviors, objects and situations. Feelings of tension and disorientation are placed in liminal situations. A summer visit to an archaeological site turns into a re-enactment of a nightmare while two potatoes at the kitchen witness their impending sacrifice. The perfection of a mouth is undermined by the intervention of black pigment and crushed pink soaps compose un unexpected opening to another world.