A glimpse into Greek artist Fotis Flevotomos‘s spring 2021 residency at the Siena Art Institute: inspired by the 14th century Sienese school of painting, exploring the potential of color through brightness and intensity.The work of the Siena Art Institute’s Greek resident artists is co-sponsored by the Stavros Niarchos Foundation. 

Fotis FLEVOTOMOS - Fulbright Research Artist (NYPL, New York, 2012-13)
Fotis is an artist, who designs multisensory narratives that intend to make museum collections accessible to people with impaired eyesight or blindness, but also to give an alternative experience of these collections to a broader audience. Fotis went with an artist’s scholarship to New York Public Library. His research there has created long lasting relationships and the beginning of a number of realized projects in his field.

Mani Through the Senses, Patrick and Joan Leigh Fermor House, Benaki Museum, Greece 2021
Mani Through the Senses is a three-hour "walkshop" with short performance pieces and hands-on interactions inspired by Fermor's travel writing and the natural/cultural landscape of the Mani region in Greece. During the walkshop, a group of sighted and partially sighted members from the local community were given prompts that focused on sensory observation, creative writing and story telling. At the end of the walkshop participants had a chance to share unique insights from their collectIve journey and reflect on their distinct forms of embodied knowledge. Fotis Flevotomos’s research in multisensory practices for 2021 was made possible by a grant from the Greek Ministry of Culture.

Sensory Garden, National Garden of Athens, Greece, 2016
Sensory Garden is a walking project focusing on the textural and olfactory qualities of selected plants in the National Garden of Athens. Prior to the walk, blind and partially sighted visitors participated in a session of mild body work that awakened their senses and helped them to connect with the surrounding landscape.

in 2012, Flevotomos was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to be a visiting artist at the New York Public Library. That year, he was engaged in discussions and workshops on the accessibility of art for people with low or no vision. He wrote blog posts about the importance of subjective vision in making art and the relationship between music and paintings. Inspired by the diversity of people in the city, he decided to draw his first portrait in many years. A video portrait by Raed Rafei.