Issue #17 – Summer 2013
Letters From Japan consists of a selection from a series of letters written by Christodoulos Panayiotou during a stay in Japan, where he lived for one month to prepare the exhibition at CCA Kitakyushu. They are personal missives addressed to friends and people very close to the artist, in which he narrates stories, sensations, reflections that arise from day to day. Published in the languages in which they were written (French, English, Greek), the letters track a continuous flow of thoughts and, as a whole, construct an organic emotional landscape. The confidential and intimate tone actually narrates much more than the private life or moods of the artist, as autobiographical anecdote becomes a vehicle for lucid reflections of an existential, cultural and political nature. Panayiotou’s decision to publish these texts is itself symptomatic: faced with the recent dramatic developments in the economy and the political life of Cyprus, the artist has chosen not to publish an analytical essay he was writing about Cypriot identity and the ideological implications of the carnival of Limassol.
Christodoulos Panayiotou (Cyprus, 1978) lives and works in Limassol, Cyprus, and Paris.
Peep-Hole Sheet is a quarterly of writings by artists. Each issue is dedicated solely to one artist, who is invited to contribute with an unpublished text whose content is completely free in terms both of subject and format. The texts are published in their original language, with accompanying translation in English. Peep-Hole Sheet is meant for those who believe artists are catalysts for ideas all around us, and who want to read their words without any filter. Over time it aspires to build up an anthology of writings that might open new perspectives for interpreting and understanding our times. Peep-Hole Sheet is published and distributed by Mousse Publishing.