2024

Description:

Maryse Rapsomatiotis’ artistic practice revolves around the ocean, both as a subject and a metaphor, explored through graphite, charcoal, watercolor, acrylics, and collages. With a background in interior and graphic design, she is drawn to visual storytelling over words. Her creative process is slow and intentional, with each color palette, theme, and subject carefully chosen, much like curating a mood board or conceptualizing a visual identity. Growing up in a modest home, Maryse learned to make do with what was around, an ethos that shaped her ability to see potential where others might not. She found joy in creating layouts from old Sears catalogs, National Geographic magazines, stamps, and paper scraps in self-adhesive photo albums. This resourceful mindset carries into her work today, where sustainability is central to her practice. By reusing and repurposing materials, she gives discarded artifacts new life, transforming them into meaningful compositions rather than letting them fade into obscurity. In “Memories Repurposed“, a collage project inspired by David Helwig’s poem “The Undertow”, Maryse reimagines cultural remnants—such as a musty photo album, discarded photos of strangers, and vintage books and magazines—into art that speaks to memory, impermanence, and renewal. By connecting elements never meant to coexist, she is, in a way, rewriting history while also reducing waste. Through her work, Maryse aims to demonstrate how art can breathe new life into the overlooked, proving that even what is discarded still holds meaning.