{ Katerina Markoulaki portolio/cv }

The work Insignificant Things Like These combines an experimental observational film (Insignificant Things: A Woman Listening, 5 minutes) with a series of visual art objects (Insignificant Things: My Friends), created in the area of Keramos in the village of Amani.Both pieces examine and observe the landscape of Amani, bringing to the foreground the significant insignificances: the moss, the fennel, the thyme, its small and large animals, and the people the artist encountered or carried within her. The artworks pay tribute to the individuals I met during my residency in Keramos, Chios, as well as my beloved friends. Keramos is a lovely little village in the northern part of the island, surrounded by an amazing forest.In recent years, due to the ongoing genocides in Sudan, Congo, and Palestine and the rising demand for antimony—a metal key to war machines and Android SIM cards—the village is threatened by the alleged reopening of old mines. Throughout the artistic stay, we engaged in long conversations about the role, use, and results of environmental activism and art.These two works are a small contribution to that conversation; some might say an unimportant one. And perhaps they truly are. But through them, I invite the viewer to notice all the unimportant things that reside within so-called insignificant people and their care, love, and devotion for the landscape, and the political movement they bring to the table. It is a piece about relationships, for all the dehydrated people and flowers we carry with us.