2024 MFA Thesis Exhibition

Drawing from scientific sources and technologies such as thermal imaging and photography, I aim to bring new questions with respect to the politics of representation within traditional media. The scenes depicted in the paintings come from a range of different sources; nature & ecology documentaries, pop culture, museum archives, internet archives, as well as imagined subjects. Symbols and elements that refer to the Greek myth of Medusa, the Gorgon, can be found throughout my work. In the contemporary world it is clear that Medusa doesn’t turn the viewer into stone; the mythical creature makes the viewer aware of the changes that occur within this moment of gazing. The composition of the paintings––sometimes overlapping one another, sometimes spaced apart––creates a psychological interface which highlights the reciprocal relationship between the one who sees and the one who is being seen. The depiction of the dynamic relationship of “predator and prey” operates as a way to think further of what it means to observe and be observed, and the complexities that this bears in the age of social media and the constant surveillance of the self. 

Anna Samara is a Greek visual artist currently living in New York, USA. She attained an Integrated Master’s Degree from Athens School of Fine Arts in Greece (2021), and moved to New York City after receiving a scholarship to pursue graduate studies and to obtain her Master’s degree (MFA) from Parsons School of Design (2024). She has exhibited her work nationally and internationally several times including at The Opening Gallery, in New York City, USA, Gallerie Bart in Amsterdam, Netherlands, U10 Art Space in Belgrade, Serbia, ViZ Laboratory for Visual Culture and Crux Galerie in Athens, Greece.