the Periphery

(περιβόλι: word for garden in Greek)

περιβόλι is a personal view of a garden with original score. The video represents the artist's landscape (real and imaginary) during the first warm days of spring, 2020. Originally from Toronto, Papatheodorou relocated to Northumberland County in 2013, situating his studio on a ready-made agrarian landscape complete with Ontario gothic stone farmhouse (1861) and outbuildings in various states of repair/decay. The landscape (interior and exterior) is slowly being transformed into studio, exhibition/performance spaces and installation garden. This video layers moving and static images referencing the artist’s Hellenic roots and mixed Greek-Canadian-Queer identity. It superimposes classical male form on the partial ready-made landscape, evoking historical garden design in a contemporary rural condition. Glimpses of the artist’s newest site installations are blurred in the video, offering an ambiguous perspective of the emerging queer landscape.