Marking the opening of the Aeschylia Festival, the installation was presented at the Old Oil Mill of Eleusis from June – November 2017.
Upon the Earth Under the Clouds is a large-scale site-specific installation conceived for the Old Mill and the city of Eleusis. Using water and soil as its core materials and ceramic pots as its dominant morphological feature, the work enters into a dialogue with the rich history of Eleusis, from antiquity to the long industrial history of the city and its present-day structure. Woven into its narrative are the myth of Demeter and Persephone, mortality, the notion of voyaging, the existential quest for a destination, and migration, not only as a defining feature of the city’s history but also as a repeated historical occurrence.
The installation consists of approximately one thousand hand-made ceramic vessels placed in the outdoor spaces of the Old Oil Mill. The ceramic pots are half dug into the earth and filled with water to their rim thus reflecting the sky above. They are placed in such a way that they create a pathway – inviting the viewer to walk through – from the depth of the site weaving its way through the derelict buildings and silos, leading out to the sea.