The artist designs a stage set into the gallery, an interior that could belong to a private space, and motivates the viewer to read carefully the phrases-texts on the pieces of paper. These pieces of papers belong to her private collection that is being formulated through the years and are a kind of archive of her personal thoughts. It is a work in progress totally connected to the notion of memory and the way that an individual uses it, preserves it and interprets it. The artist creates a visual archive combined by written phrases and images that is not possible to guess if they are fact or fictitious, real or imaginary. From the early beginning of her artistic career she uses phrases or distracted sentences in combination with a light source (lamps, neon signs, light boxes). These messages could be considered as a kind of “signs” that the artist wishes to point out to the viewers.
Dimitra Vamiali comments on the sensitive and perishable quality of the paper. In The Fine Qualities of the Distressed Papers old pieces of papers become the protagonists of a personal cosmos. Apart from that, she reminds us the value of paper, of hardcopy books, notebooks and diaries in an era where digital applications occupy our perception on collectivity, archiving and preserving. The installation of Dimitra Vamiali is about vulnerability, hidden thoughts and second chances.