The Pleasure Brigade
The Pleasure Brigade, 2025, 33 x 47 x 114 cm, MDF, wood, black emulsion paint, gold leaf.
Left: Non Sono Una Signora (I am not a lady), 2025, 110 x 75 cm, Charcoal on paper.
Right: Στες Κάμαρες Επήγα Τες Κρυφές (I went to the secret bedrooms), 2025, 110 x 75 cm, Charcoal on paper.
The two drawings, while visually connected through scale, material, and composition, they also form a conceptual dialogue, linking two queer voices across time.
“Non Sono Una Signora” (I am not a lady) borrows its title from Loredana Bertè’s 1982 song, a bold statement of non-conformity and resistance to societal norms. In contrast, “Στες Κάμαρες Επήγα Τες Κρυφές” (I went to the secret bedrooms) features a direct quote from C.P. Cavafy, a queer Greek poet writing in early 20th-century Alexandria. By inscribing Cavafy’s verse directly onto the drawing, I aim to bridge past and present, placing a contemporary queer confession in conversation with a historical one.
Both works serve as statements of queerness, of occupying spaces outside the norm, one rooted in poetic secrecy, the other in rebellious performance.
The black-painted lectern was designed as a central display element, positioned in front of two drawings. I chose to leave the lectern bare giving it the title of one of Cavafy’s poems “The Pleasure Brigade”, transforming it into a quiet gesture of openness. The gold leaf detailing around the edge, referencing religious iconography and sacred objects, fills the lectern with a sense of reverence. Positioned deliberately between viewer and image, it becomes both a visual threshold and an offering, encouraging the audience to draw their own connections between object, absence, and image.
