The UCLA Stavros Niarchos Foundation Center for the Study of Hellenic Culture announces the
opening of “Post-Truth,” an exhibition by contemporary Greek artist Mania Efstathiou.
Born in Athens, Efstathiou studied Nuclear Medicine and worked as a physician in Thessaloniki.
In 2013, she changed careers, graduating from the University of Fine Arts in Thessaloniki.
Informed by her experience as a physician, her work explores fundamental questions about life
and death. She approaches the concepts of weariness, loneliness, depersonalization, seclusion,
disability, and acceptance through her experiences of being both a therapist and a patient.
The UCLA exhibition includes thirteen archival inkjet prints on metallic paper. According to
Efstathiou, “The works, based on my photographic observations of aspects of the natural
landscape and the man-made features of the environment document the reality that surrounds
me. In the creative, fictional process I edit photographs, mixing reality with virtuality. I create
new environments characterized by color and meaning contrasts, moving in the area of ‘post-truth,’
ignoring or even undermining the basic idea of photographic observation, creating
questions in the interpretation of the visual composition.”
Sharon Gerstel, Director of the UCLA SNF Hellenic Center, observed that “Efstathiou’s training
as a physician and artist places her work at the intersection of science and the arts. Her works,
which include the titles ‘Hope,’ ‘Home,’ and ‘You are Safe Here,’ elicit an immediate response,
drawing the viewer into a world of complex emotions.”
Efstathiou’s works are housed in the collections of the National Museum, Beijing; the Consulate
General of Greece in New York; the Museum of Byzantine Culture, Thessaloniki; the Municipal
Culture Center of Corinth; Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, School of Dentistry;
Vogiatzoglou Art Space, Athens; and in private collections in both Greece and the U.S. She has
participated in exhibitions in Switzerland, Bulgaria, China, England, Serbia, Greece and the
United States. Her most recent exhibition in the United States, “Monitoring Solitude 2.0,” was
hosted in 2019 by the Consulate General of Greece in New York.
“Post-Truth” will be exhibited in the UCLA SNF Center’s gallery in Rolfe Hall through
February 1, 2023. For more information about the artist, see: https://www.maniaefstathiou.com/