Until August 13, 2023 it will be held at National Historical Museumat the Old Parliament Building (Stage 13), the group art exhibition “I know you by sight: Faces of ’21”, edited by Iris Kritikou and Panagiota Panaritis. The exhibition is presented in the context of the 200th anniversary of the writing of the work “Man in Freedom” by Dionysios Solomos.

Ordinary people in extraordinary situations, could be the subtitle and illustrative search of the present exhibition, which attempts to re-introduce the faces of the 21st century and reposition them in their human dimension. The combatants-protagonists and their supporting characters-humans, the elderly, women and children, the famous but also the invisible everyday heroes who were summoned by the special circumstances to surpass themselves, welcome the visitors by combining fragments of characteristics, period clothes, objects, people and heroes and become the springing sources for the contemporary works of the exhibition.

Works from the collections of the National Historical Museum – historical portraits of known and unknown Greeks from the era of the War of Independence, weapons, personal items, etc. – are placed in a joint installation with creations of distinguished contemporary Greek visual artists, jointly proposing a new way of approaching the natural protagonists of the 21st century, beyond and behind their standard image. The core of the exhibition is the contemporary portraits of protagonists and non-protagonists of the Greek Revolution that each participating artist chose to create, highlighting the human dimension of those who fought recorded and unseen battles in the name of a Nation.

In the exhibition, the poetry of our national poet Dionysios Solomos, with its powerful iconographic power, comes to give meaning to the exhibits and to demonstrate the indelible influence of Solomos’ words on modern Greek poetry. The anthology of excerpts from younger and contemporary poets highlights the inextricable connection of poetry with history and its timeless function as a means of reflecting on the Greek Struggle for Independence in later periods.

In summary, the exhibition seeks to bring together contemporary painted and sculptural portraits of men, women and children who fought, often meeting a cruel death or dying in poverty. Several of the participating works are based on well-known iconographic patterns, yet carry the weight of their creator’s artistic personality and aspirations. Others, however, were invented from scratch, following a historical note, an archival letter, a poem, an oral narrative, an unidentifiable portrait of a man, woman, or small child in some old book engraving or museum room. The excerpts of the poems and the texts come in turn to illuminate the personalities of the persons, and to raise questions for the visitor regarding the imprint of the Greek Revolution on today.

The following are participating in the exhibition with their works: Io Aggeli, Yiannis Adamakis, George Androutsos, Katerina Andahopoulou, Zacharias Arvanitis, Kalliopi Asargiotaki, Alexis Veroukas, Marilitsa Vlahaki, Irini Vogiatzi, Elena Votsi, Vassilis Vrettos, Andreas Georgiadis, Savvas Georgiadis, Markos Georgilakis, Maria Giannakakis, Stratigi Oula Giannikopoulou, Stefanos Daskalakis, Frangiskos Doukakis, Stamatis Zannos, George Zongolopoulos, Irini Iliopoulou, Gogo Ieromonachou, Iota Ioannidou, Juliano Kaglis, Stavroula Kaziale, Sofia Kalogeropoulou, Korina Knithaki, Vasiliki Kolipetsa, Andreas Kontellis, Themis Kontogouris, Vangelis Kyris & Anatoli Georgiev, Municipality Etra Konstantinidis, Maria Kotsou , Loula Leventis, Vassilis Liaouris, Michalis Madenis, Thanasis Makris, Tasos Mantzavinos, Minas Mavrikakis, Tasos Misouras, Manos Batzolis, Timos Batinakis, Yannis Bekiaris, Hariton Bekiaris, Panagiotis Beldekos, Rouli Boua, Andreas Nikolaou, Miltos Pantelias, Theodoros Papagais Yannis, Ilias Papailiakis, Konstantinos Papamihalopoulos, Maria Papanikolaou, Panagiotis Pasandas, Stelios Petroulakis, Vassilis Poulios, Rania Ragou, George Rorris, George Sampsonidis, Dimitris Sarasitis, Ifigenia Sdoukou, Christos Stanisis, Marina Stellatou, Stefanos Souvatzoglou, Praxitelis Tz Anoulinos, Panagiotis Tountas, Antonis Tsakiris, Stefanos Tsiodoulos, Manolis Charos, Nikolas Christoforakis and Yiannis Psychopaidis.