Mariel Kouveli
Think Twice (Before the Sun Sets)
VIMA Art Fair
15 - 18 May 2025
In Mariel Kouveli’s photography, there is an inherent thread of experiential traces. Suspended between the stillness of the arrested image and the movement of cinematic time, her photographs leave behind signs of a life before and a life after. Patterns emerge through implicit gestures, subtly revealing - in glimpses - the role of chance in both difference and repetition. Think Twice (Before the Sun Sets) suggests a duality in parallel motion; twice occurs simultaneously or consecutively, finding its midpoint suspended between what has passed and what flickers just beyond view.
Subtle shifts in movement introduce a quiet distortion. Transparency gives way to reflection; clarity flickers into opacity. Water, in its fluid nature, becomes both mirror and veil. It reflects everything around it, then retreats. A slight change in perspective, and the surface turns black, solid, then clear again. A haptic presence is embedded in the image: the sensation of glass tilting, of motion lingering.
Motion’s trajectory is caught again in turns, while people in posed pauses remain still. A disrupted sun organises shadows, merging the hard and soft materiality of habitation. Built and organic forms intertwine, patterning the surface with layers of light and exchanging visual rhythms between the real and the virtual.
The fragmentary nature of the snapshot implies a brief encounter with vision - like the act of a glimpse or the moment of turning one’s head twice in disbelief. Yet in Kouveli’s images, there is a sense of longevity, gestural in its essence. The longer one looks, the more is revealed. Meaning emerges gradually through intangible correlations - connections formed in the act of looking at a life once lived. Through shifting proximities, way-ins and ways out, Kouveli’s photographs portray an extended reality that constructs, echoes, dissolves, and unveils within the frame.
Text by Marietta Mavrokordatou
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List of works
All Edition of 5 + 1 AP
Think Twice (Before the Sun Sets)
VIMA Art Fair
15 - 18 May 2025
In Mariel Kouveli’s photography, there is an inherent thread of experiential traces. Suspended between the stillness of the arrested image and the movement of cinematic time, her photographs leave behind signs of a life before and a life after. Patterns emerge through implicit gestures, subtly revealing - in glimpses - the role of chance in both difference and repetition. Think Twice (Before the Sun Sets) suggests a duality in parallel motion; twice occurs simultaneously or consecutively, finding its midpoint suspended between what has passed and what flickers just beyond view.
Subtle shifts in movement introduce a quiet distortion. Transparency gives way to reflection; clarity flickers into opacity. Water, in its fluid nature, becomes both mirror and veil. It reflects everything around it, then retreats. A slight change in perspective, and the surface turns black, solid, then clear again. A haptic presence is embedded in the image: the sensation of glass tilting, of motion lingering.
Motion’s trajectory is caught again in turns, while people in posed pauses remain still. A disrupted sun organises shadows, merging the hard and soft materiality of habitation. Built and organic forms intertwine, patterning the surface with layers of light and exchanging visual rhythms between the real and the virtual.
The fragmentary nature of the snapshot implies a brief encounter with vision - like the act of a glimpse or the moment of turning one’s head twice in disbelief. Yet in Kouveli’s images, there is a sense of longevity, gestural in its essence. The longer one looks, the more is revealed. Meaning emerges gradually through intangible correlations - connections formed in the act of looking at a life once lived. Through shifting proximities, way-ins and ways out, Kouveli’s photographs portray an extended reality that constructs, echoes, dissolves, and unveils within the frame.
Text by Marietta Mavrokordatou
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List of works
- Glass I, 2022, Archival Giclée Print on Photographic Paper, 60 x 90 cm
- Glass II, 2022, Archival Giclée Print on Photographic Paper, 60 x 90 cm
- Sun Trajectory, 2025, Archival Giclée Print on Photographic Paper, 58 x 80 cm
- Paper Leaves, 2025, Archival Giclée Print on Photographic Paper, 58 x 80 cm
- Sun is shining, Clock is ticking, 2024, Archival Giclée Print on Photographic Paper, 58 x 80 cm
- Car, 2024, Archival Giclée Print on Photographic Paper, 58 x 80 cm
- Tulip, 2025, Archival Giclée Print on Photographic Paper, 60 x 90 cm
- Shoot me, 2024, Archival Giclée Print on Photographic Paper, 100 x 66 cm
All Edition of 5 + 1 AP
