Description
This work addresses themes relating to the tradition of marriage and how the artist’s emerging sexuality as a gay male intersected and conflicted with cultural and institutional boundaries, expectations, and limitations. Growing up in a Greek Orthodox family, Christos Pantieras was immersed in a community with strong values toward traditional family and heteronormative codes. However, the expectations in those regards became cumbersome as the artist’s emerging sexuality didn’t align with these traditions. At the time this work was made, gay marriage was not legal; however, it became legal in Canada in 2005. Pantieras re-invents and carefully re-works personal items he has inherited, such as traditional prayer candles from Greek Orthodox churches, photo frames from family celebrations, and old, tattered hand‑written letters. These objects are all highly charged due to their associations with celebratory events such as marriages and family, as well as with rituals relating to funerals and mourning. Christos Pantieras graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and a Bachelor of Education from the University of Ottawa and completed his Master of Fine Arts degree in Sculpture at York University (Toronto) in 2015. Pantieras has been the recipient of several Ontario Arts Council and City of Ottawa grants. He has participated in numerous solo and group exhibitions, including at the Ottawa Art Gallery, the ArQuives (formerly the Canadian Lesbian and Gay Archives) [Toronto], the Modern Fuel Artist-Run Centre (Kingston), AXENÉO7 (Gatineau), Artcite Inc. (Windsor) and CIRCA art actuel (Montreal).