Antonia Jameson

Jameson's work is informed by her father’s childhood home in Athens, a monokatoikia which has been left to ruin after her family returned to Crete in the early 2000s. The land has recently been sold to a developer and the house is set to be demolished. It serves as a remnant from Athens as it was in the 60s and 70s.

Before the land which the house occupies was sold, the artist collected and has been working with some of her grandparents' belongings, left behind inside. These include catalogues from her grandfather’s furniture factory, diaries, poems and books. She is interested in memory and translation, and how this work relates to the changing social and physical architecture of Athens today.

Within the space of the gallery, Jameson has reconstructed the staircase that leads to the roof of the house. This sits with a recording of a conversation with her mother, as they walk around the abandoned building, onto the roof. Her mother describes the house as she remembers it, in the 80s. Across the space, the artist has transcribed her grandfather’s handwriting in stop motion, and projected it onto the gallery blinds. He discusses his trip to Wigan, the artist’s hometown, and his impressions of northern England - specifically the weather. He writes in katharevousa, an old-fashioned and formal mode of speech. Alongside the projection, the shutters of the house, as seen from inside, allow light through.

​Jameson's grandfather always wanted to learn English, and his diary entries are interspersed with broken translations. She is now translating his writing, with her broken Greek, dealing with a mirrored language barrier, two generations later.

Through installation, projection, drawing, and animation Jameson translates a family history that has been muddled by movement and bureaucracy, and complicated by physical distance, time, and grief.