Maria Christoforidou
Lecturer
Maria Christoforidou is an artist, writer and researcher. Maria was born in Zambia, grew up in Greece and has spent most of her adult life in the UK. The insoluble differences of these environments are powerful incentives toward theory. A lateral approach to critical theory of image, language and their combinations is the foundation of her practice. She uses research and collaboration in different formats – lectures, workshops, events, written and visual essays, publishing – to explore the political, physical and performative implications of writing and photography.
Maria is motivated by a persistent interest in metaphor as a tool that exposes ‘not so obvious’ or even secret connections. A tool to move you away from the centre, to express the unspeakable knots of Otherness, to question the neutrality of various canons, to expand spheres of activity and interest. This attitude finds fertile ground in her current research in the Afro European feminist discussions of intersectionality, voice, hybridity, decolonisation, and revaluation of the intertextual role images play in forming identities.
Maria first came to Cornwall to study and she is now forever tied to the sea. She joined Falmouth University in 2016 after working for 4 years in Plymouth University.
Qualifications
Qualifications
| Year | Qualification | Awarding body |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | M.A. 20th Century Art and Design Histories and Theories (Distinction) | University College Falmouth |
| 2006 | PGCE Post Compulsory Education & Training Cornwall College | Camborne College |
| 2001 | BA(Hons) Fine Art | Falmouth School of Art & Design |
| 1998 | Art & Design Foundation Diploma | UWE Bristol |
Research Interests
Research interests and expertise
My practice involves writing, printed or spoken, accompanied by my ‘amateurish’ photography and film. I have an interest in chance and anything that takes one away from the centre, the normal, the accepted: metaphor, multiplicity, complication, illusion, lies, dreams, magic, damage, unfinished, mistakes. Also, an obsession with systems of accumulating, enumerating, categorising objects and information: museums, archives, archaeology. I most often work in collaboration with others. I am one third of Various Writing, an art research cluster that investigating acts of writing. I was co-curator of Decalcomania, a collaborative curatorial project. For the T - Rex Cinema, an experimental art cinema in a rural community setting in collaboration with Martyn Ridgewell, and as the lead curator and producer of the first Penryn Arts Festival 2013, Cornwall. I was also part of the founding team of FOMO Arts Publishing Fair.
Research Topics
- African Diaspora
- Appropriation
- Archaeology
- cinema
- critical writing
- decolonisation
- deconstruction
- Feminisms
- hybrids
- intersectionality
- Language
- metaphor
- oulipo
- personal is political
- Photography
- poetics
- Semiotics
Research Outputs
Publications and research outputs
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Ridout, Lizzie, Christoforidou, Maria and Star, Dion
(2018), Various Writings: Chapter 1 (Research Catalogue Exposition published in RUUKKU), In: RUUKKU: Studies in Artistic Research, University of the Arts (Finland), Finland, ISSN: 2341-9687 -
Ridout, Lizzie
(2013), An Essay Concerning the Architecture of Conversation, In: Message, University of Plymouth Press, Plymouth, 1 (1), pp. 24-33, ISSN: 978-184102-347-2
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Wylde, Gillian
Christoforidou, Maria and Chapman, Neil, (2017), FOMO: Falmouth Art Publishing Fair 2017, Falmouth Art Gallery and Library
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Ridout, Lizzie and Star, Dion
(2017), The School of Various Writings: What is Writing?, In: The School of Various Writings: What is Writing?, 13th March – 8th April 2017, Falmouth University
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Christoforidou, Maria, Ridout, Lizzie and Star, Dion
(2017), Various Writings: Chapter Two, In: MIX 2017: Writing Digital, 10-12th July 2017, Bath Spa University, Newton Park Campus -
Christoforidou, Maria, Ridout, Lizzie and Star, Dion
(2017), Various Writings: Chapter One, In: Please Specify! The Society of Artistic Research's annual conference, 28/29 April 2017, University of the Arts Helsinki, Finland -
Christoforidou, Maria, Ridout, Lizzie and Star, Dion
(2016), Various Writings: CAST Residency, In: Various Writings: CAST Residency, 6-11th February 2017, CAST, Helston, UK
Events
Decalcomania Curatorial Experiment Collaborative Exhibition Project with Laura Smith. Curator and Producer, Publication Designer The Exchange, Penzance https://decalcomaniaproject.wordpress.com/
Events
Penryn Arts Festival Combined Arts Festival 150 local and international projects. Director/Producer/ Arts Council Grant Funding Penryn, Cornwall
Events
In Flux Lecture with Dr Lucy Howarth, Marlow Moss Seminar Tate St. Ives
Events
Far Out and Further Away Leading Artist youth workshops with Circuit Programme Tate St Ives
Events
‘The Other - Penryn’ Reimagine Your Town / Penryn Community Multigenerational Series of Collage Workshops
Teaching
Areas of teaching
- Art Histories and Theories
- Art practice
- Critical Theories
- Feminist Studies
Courses taught
- Fine Art BA(Hons)
- Illustration BA(Hons)
- Graphic Design BA(Hons)
Professional Engagement
Independent professional practice
Similis Publication /Visual Essay in collaboration with Martyn Ridgewell, Re – Map 4, Athens
http://remapkm.org/4/projects/%E2%80%A2sensual-abstraction-a-la-belle-etoile-a-collaborative-project-by-aliki-panagiotopoulou-and-alexandros-tzannis/
10 dreams to get there
EssayContribution for “To arrive where we started…” Publication
What We Have Done, What We Are About To Do, Exhibition, Glasgow CCA
2022 Surplus Cinema: Feminism and filmmaking in the context of Greece and its intertwining diasporas, Beursschouwburg, Brussels 3-day programme screenings, public discussions with visiting and local filmmakers, workshop and mistress class veered at decentering eurocentricism and engaging in feminist lineages of the moving image. Conceived by Maria Christoforidou, Rabab El Mouadden, Christina Phoebe and Elli Vassalou.
This programme was supported by by the Flemish Community Commission (VGC), Beursschouwburg, Workspacebrussels, LUCA School of Arts and DocNomads.
2022 Performing the Question, Maria Christoforidou and Lucy Stein, Spike Island, Bristol , performative lecture in collaboration with Lucy Stein for the Wet Room installation.
2022 Personal Oracle, performance, Hermitage Gathering Onassis Air, Athens
2022 Spontaneous Beings, contribution for Bryony Gillard website of Unctuous Between Fingers
2021 Yaya Weave, collaborative research project with Vivian Vaux , exhibition and communal weaving workshop, Fish Factory, Penryn
2021 Maltha: The Thrice Burnt Archive of Unreliable prophesies, Video poem, commissioned by Transmediale 20/21, Almanac, Berlin
Engagement with professional associations and societies
2018 Radio Athène, on line publication text for exhibition, Aliki Panagiotopoulou drawers
2018 Kingsgate Postal Service (KPS) The third issue of KPS mail art initiative
sharp whispers by Nina Royle and Maria Christoforidou.
