00:00I want to just do one thing. Can I just share one thing?
00:02Because I never really say it and people ask me and I never really talk about it.
00:12Hi, my name is Athena and I live in Bali.
00:16I create large-scale oil paintings that blend realism with abstraction
00:23and innovative textile weaving.
00:27I really try and merge the technique of traditional oil painting
00:33with vibrant abstraction to create dynamic compositions
00:39that challenge the conventional traditions and norms.
00:45In terms of themes, what I really love to explore
00:49is the threads that go through a lot of the work
00:52is identity, transformation, the motherhood for sure
00:58and the human connection that people have with nature as well.
01:06What I realized is that I'm always trying to find the harmony between old and new.
01:12So whether it be traditional oil painting and abstract contemporary art,
01:18I think that's really been present for me because I think I'm always trying to find the balance between things.
01:26There's a sense of pushing away the shadows or the dark, you could say.
01:31And I think being in Bali has been really, really insightful
01:34because in the Hindu religion they bring so much transparency to the shadows and dark within the religion
01:42that for me I think the light doesn't exist without the dark.
01:45You have to embrace both and live in harmony.
01:48So there's a lot of that that runs through the work too.
01:52I'm really enjoying the limited colour palette
01:54because I did a series called Equilibrium which was about light and dark
01:57which is based on the Hindu religion.
02:00And so there was a lot of light hues or a lot of dark hues
02:02and they would kind of represent the shadow self and the higher consciousness self.
02:13Yeah, a lot of people ask me about like what, why, where did you, why did you start weaving
02:18or what was the idea from that?
02:20And for me like I see like the weave as paint firstly.
02:24I see an extension of paint. I don't actually see myself as a textile artist.
02:28I see myself as a painter.
02:33And there was one portrait that had like a, it was like some underpainted weave
02:39as if it was weave but in paint.
02:41So I painted it to make it look like weave but it was paint.
02:45And then I was like also what about if I do it the other way around?
02:47What if I weave it and it looks like paint?
02:50Like why don't we try that?
02:51And so I did a little small example of it.
02:54And then I did a big one, a huge one and then like, and then that was it.
02:58And then I just did it consistently from then on.
03:01That painting was of a painting of a guy I met in Cuba and I paint and I did,
03:06I photographed him and then I painted him.
03:09And it was about his future looking ahead into something.
03:13Hopefully he could get out of Cuba and see a positive outlook for himself,
03:16even though he didn't have much money, he had a kid and it was hard.
03:19So it was like look at him looking into this future that he feels like he,
03:22he will get even though the odds are against him.
03:26And that painting got into the Royal Academy Summer Show.
03:29So it was funny because it was like, it was nice to know you could just go big
03:33and just fuck it.
03:35Just go for it.
03:35Do you know what I mean?
03:36Like and see what happens.
03:37And a lot of the time through those experiments are things that kind of like
03:41keep you, give you the next sort of like thread into the next chapter.
03:45So yeah.
03:47The reason why I'm on this planet is, you know, what the message is for me is to
03:54lifting people out of fear and frustration and into a space of love and light.
04:02And I do that through, that's, I think everyone has a skill on this planet,
04:08some way and expression of, of truth and, and, and love.
04:12And I think that this is mine.
04:14So it's, it's a, for me, it's a form of beauty.
04:17It's a form of authenticity and, and a calling.
04:23Okay.
