Lilia Ziamou’s works allude to the female body transformed through technological interventions: physical or virtual. In her practice she successively compounds digital processes and classical techniques. For this residency, she started by exploring ancient funerary rites, their links to beliefs about the afterlife, and their multiple underlying meanings in both Greek and Saudi cultures. Grounding her research in readings and discoveries regarding the obituary traditions of entombing bodies with specific objects and artifacts, she was meant to question the place of funerary rituals in the sphere of new technologies. During her residency, Lilia created an installation of four sculptural works inspired by her research on funerary rituals. Her installation encompasses classical techniques, such as stone carving and textile art practices used in both cultures, forging a connection between Greece and Saudi Arabia. She combines these classical techniques along with digital scanning and fabrication, digital imaging, and thermoplastics. With this installation, Lilia reflects on how emerging technologies might shape post-mortem rituals in the future.
Lilia Ziamou (b. Thessaloniki, Greece) is an interdisciplinary artist from Greece and the United States, now based in New York City. Her works allude to the female body transformed through technological interventions: physical or virtual. She holds the position of professor at the City University of New York, specializing in innovation, technology, and design. Despite her extensive experience, she chose to return to the role of a student, obtaining her Master’s degree from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. This unique blend of art and technology training, combined with her dedicated research, shapes her distinctive approach. She perceives the body not as a sum of its limits but as a site for innovation. In her creations, she skillfully combines traditional techniques like stone carving, casting, and draping with digital fabrication, digital imaging, and synthetic materials, offering a canvas for numerous transformative possibilities.
Lilia Ziamou lives and works in New York, USA. Past exhibitions include NIKA Project Space (Dubai, UAE), Artist Workspace Gallery (London, UK), Sojourner Gallery (New York, NY), Museo La Tertulia (Cali, Colombia), Whitebox (New York, NY).