THE EXHIBITION “Fragments” by visual artist Maria Ath. Matala is being presented at the Melina Cultural Center of the Municipality of Athens, a historic cultural venue in Thissio, until Thursday, March 26, 2026.

The exhibition opened on March 19, with an introduction by Rena Anousi–Ilia, Printmaker, Member of the Chamber of Fine Arts of Greece, and Eleni Chatzipoulidou, Painter, Member of the Chamber of Fine Arts of Greece.

This exhibition brings together selected works from different periods of the artist’s visual journey, proposing a unified reading of her relationship with matter, time, and memory. Painting, prints, watercolors, mixed media, functional clay objects, jewelry, and art books coexist in the same space, forming a body of forms and materials that express her personal artistic language. Through materiality, silence, and the imprint of gesture, Matala’s work creates a dialogue with contemporary female experience shaped within an uncertain and constantly changing world.

The works function as fragments of experience: traces of lived moments, gestures, and material experimentation that remain active in the present. The artistic act appears as a process of translating personal experience into visual form, where the materiality of the works engages in dialogue with memory and trace through time.

The exhibition also presents three art books with prints by the artist — “Apollonian and Dionysian Ecstasy,” “The Two Sides of Love,” and “Labors of Heracles” — which belong to the collection of OPANDA (Cultural, Sports and Youth Organization of the Municipality of Athens).

Short Biography

Maria Matala is a visual artist and member of the Chamber of Fine Arts of Greece. She holds a PhD in French Literature and a D.E.A. degree. She is active as a painter, iconographer, and art critic.

Camus was the reason for her to meet Nikos Hadjikyriakos-Ghika in 1989, who strongly encouraged her to pursue painting after seeing her collection “Old Stones.” In 2011, she attended courses with Giorgos Lazongas, which opened new horizons for her work, especially in exploring the concept of trace. She studied printmaking at the Municipality of Nikaia’s print workshop under Rena Anousi–Ilia. There she created three art books and the collection “Metamorphoses,” among others.

More recently, at Elpida Kourtzi’s workshop, she created clay objects inspired by the forms of her print collections, forming the collection “Midas.”

In March 2026, she is also participating in two group exhibitions:

– Tobacco Factory, Library of Parliament: “Behind the Showcase,” March 6–31

– Municipal Gallery of Piraeus: “Journey to Kythera,” March 16–28

Parallel events:

• Sunday, March 22 at 12:30

Markella Karamaouna, PhD, Flower Essence Consultant, Systemic Mental Health Counselor

Lecture: “Iris: The Flower Essence of Artistic Inspiration”

• Thursday, March 26 at 18:30

Kostas Evangelatos, Painter, Poet and Performer

Presentation: Publications of Literature and Art

Melina Cultural Center, Municipality of Athens

Exhibition duration: March 19–26, 2026

Opening: March 19, 2026 at 18:00

Address: 66 Herakleidon St. & Thessalonikis St., Thissio

Metro: Kerameikos

Opening hours:

Tuesday – Friday: 11:00 – 19:00

Saturday & Sunday: 11:00 – 15:00

Closed: Monday and Wednesday, March 25

Free admission