Athens-based talented visual artist Alkyoni Papakonstantopoulou (stylized as Alkyoni Pap) is tearing herself between drawing, photography and poetry, sometimes mixing these three or revealing the effect that one has on the other.

Currently studying Photography and Audio-Visual Arts, the 23 years old artist is attracted to one of the oldest forms of drawing – erotic-drawings. Alkyoni, also known as the Poisoner (due to her self-indulgence in the dark, even romantic side of the macabre) describes herself  as “a photography student that draws a lot!”.

She uses a variety of drawing techniques in order to illustrate the raw connection between two human beings, the deep bondage of it. The dot-sketching mixed with red and white watercolor perfectly depict the sexual, almost surgical savagery of the human primal instincts. Fucking has never been more clinical, love has never been more ravenous. And now I’m asking you: Is love medicine or poison? “Greeks used the same word for both”, said once Umberto Eco.

Grip

It’s the white noise that disturbs me.

The soft buzzing near my eardrums,

it sounds menacing. It’s

so low that everything else

sounds loud,

an exaggeration.

A distant laugh,

carried by the air through open windows

and over rows and rows of balconies

with roses and magnolias.

Fabric,

gliding down skin,

leaving it bare,

hair standing on attention,

electrified.

A gulp,

the slow turning of the neck,

fingers brushing away hair.

Breaths,

getting irregular and

more.

While Alkyoni’s sketches are dominated by instinct, her photography is lingering in feelings – as a form of treatment, or rehab, for her sinful night-time drawing. Most of her revealing self-portraits, nudes or simple portrayals of the human body could easily sum up to a single term: emotion. All good, so far.

Alkyoni’s drawings and photographs got our eyes, but her poetry is what got our souls. Whatever atmosphere she manages to transmit through her visual artworks, she concludes via her writings.

All photo credits: Alkyioni Pap

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This article was originally published in Cultartes Magazine #4 – “Dreams and Nightmares”. Get your copy in print here.

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Romanian writer based in Cyprus. Co-founder CVLTARTES. Author of "Hailbringer: A Romanian Folktale"