Kleopatra Tsali: Unveiling Hidden Connections Through Craft
Kleopatra Tsali, an Athens-based artist, delves into the intricate web connecting materials, people, and the natural world through her diverse artistic practice. Utilizing mediums such as clay, glass, silk fibers, metal, handmade paper, and various organic elements, Tsali's approach to craft transcends mere object creation. She perceives making as a profound act of attentiveness and inquiry, a method for uncovering the embedded histories, social dynamics, and ecological relationships that permeate landscapes and communities.
Her work frequently manifests as sculptures, installations, archival projects, and collaborative research initiatives. At the core of her artistic exploration are fundamental questions: What stories do materials carry? How is ancestral knowledge disseminated beyond conventional academic settings? And what role can craft play in illuminating the often-unseen interdependencies that define our shared existence? Tsali articulates that craft serves as a continuous dialogue with the physical world, revealing the profound links between individuals, substances, environments, and lived experiences.
This expansive understanding of craftsmanship is vividly demonstrated in "This Mortal Soil," a project initiated in 2024 as part of The Material Way program. The endeavor began with intensive research in Abram, a village on the Greek island of Naxos, a place deeply personal to Tsali from her childhood summers. Collaborating with local inhabitants, she meticulously identified clay deposits and stone formations suitable for ceramic production and glazing. This fieldwork culminated in a unique book map, featuring collected clay and rock samples, which not only charted the physical terrain of Abram but also chronicled the narratives embedded within its soil. The project endeavors to safeguard a body of local knowledge facing obsolescence, transforming the mapping process into both documentation and a reciprocal exchange. Tsali's aim is for this archive to serve as an enduring resource for future generations within the community, enabling them to discover and engage with indigenous materials.
Central to Tsali's creative method is extended observation, which she considers integral to the craft itself, rather than a separate preliminary stage. She asserts that meaningful insights seldom emerge instantly but rather materialize gradually through sustained engagement, repetition, and a deep, continuous presence with a specific location, material, or community. For Tsali, materials are not inert objects but vibrant chronicles of human and ecological trajectories. In "This Mortal Soil," clay transcends its physical form, becoming both an archive of the past and a conduit for transmitting place-specific memories and intergenerational wisdom.
The transmission of knowledge also underpins "Morus," a collaborative venture launched in 2022 by Tsali alongside Irini Gonou and Swedish artist Hanna Norrna. This initiative advocates for home-based sericulture—the small-scale rearing of silkworms in domestic settings—as a means to re-evaluate the historical contexts and prospective trajectories of silk production. Through synchronous silkworm breeding in Greece and Sweden, participants meticulously record the life cycles of silkworms, the growth of mulberry trees, prevailing weather patterns, and local environmental conditions in a communal journal. These investigations recently informed "Silk Cartographies," an exhibition presented by the Morus Project in collaboration with curator Elli Leventaki at the Museum of Agriculture of the Agricultural University of Athens. The exhibition, which ran until June 26th, 2026, united contemporary weaving works, original archival documents, sericulture research, raw silk byproducts, and local narratives from both Greece and Sweden, thereby illustrating the cultural, ecological, and material networks that have shaped silk production across generations.
This project operates simultaneously as an artistic creation, a research platform, and a community network. By prioritizing domestic and small-scale practices over industrial production, Morus elevates forms of knowledge frequently marginalized in official historical accounts. Tsali believes that these exchanges challenge conventional notions of expertise, stating that a teacher can assume many guises: an academic, a specialist, an elderly woman who once worked in a silk factory, an artisan sharing their wisdom, a friend who discovered a groundbreaking glaze recipe, or even a silkworm weaving its cocoon. The collective archive generated by Morus also meticulously documents the ecological relationships that enable contemporary silk production, portraying silkworms, trees, weather systems, and human caretakers as active collaborators in a shared, interconnected process.
Both of Tsali's projects originate from her keen focus on the inherent qualities and historical narratives embedded within the materials she engages with. Whether collecting clay on Naxos or observing silkworms through the Morus project, she allows the intrinsic properties of each material and process to guide the outcome, rather than imposing a preconceived idea. She views her artistic practice as an ongoing conversation with the material itself, permitting it to steer her, unveiling unexpected directions that were unforeseen from the outset. This methodology resonates with anthropologist Tim Ingold's concept of correspondence, wherein creation arises from continuous interaction with materials. This dynamic is evident in Tsali's sculptures, which often convey a sense of perpetual evolution. Vessels transition into architectural configurations, clay forms stack and delicately balance, and intricate structures appear sustained by sheer tension. Many of her creations simultaneously evoke notions of dwelling and movement. Vessels transform into bodies, bodies into shelters, and architectural forms adopt the characteristics of clothing or transient habitats. These fluid identities reflect broader inquiries into motion, sanctuary, belonging, and harmonious coexistence.
For Tsali, the enduring value lies not in the finished handcrafted object, but in the profound encounters fostered through the act of making. She finds inspiration in the idea that a fingerprint's impression can persist on a ceramic piece for centuries. A subtle mark, a minor imperfection, or an unforeseen transformation within a material can transcend time, creating a palpable link between individuals across generations. Ultimately, Tsali champions craft for its capacity to bring often-overlooked relationships to the forefront. Engaging with clay, silk, or other natural elements invariably provokes contemplation about origins, labor, stewardship, and ecological interdependence. Through initiatives like "This Mortal Soil" and "Morus," the act of creation becomes a mindful practice of attending to the complex networks of people, places, and species that collectively shape our reality. Tsali expresses hope for a future of craft characterized by more collaborative and less individualistic practices, emphasizing that making is never an isolated act but rather something that unfolds through manifold forms of coexistence.