Articulating nodes (|) movement in mothering spheres

Ink Drawing, Latex Print on Canvas Fabric 2022 18” x 61” This abstract drawing conceptualizes the spaces of mothering seen as schematic diagrams of different worlds of the mother artist. The diagrams contain nodes and tendons which act as strings that connect different sections of different worlds.  Many women care for not only children, but…

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Exiled in Light :|: Transfiguration

An immersive performative installation about moving in between the worlds of light and darkness. The Chicago Art Department presents Exiled in Light :|: Transfiguration, an immersive art installation by Valerie Xanos in conversation with movement performances by Allen Turner.  “I create immersive environments that are contemplative and trance-inducing in order to produce shifts of sensual…

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Intersectional Brutality

Mapping Intersectional BrutalityThis work uses drawing as a process of mapping intersectional violence against black bodies, indigenous bodies, female bodies, LGBTQ+ bodies, poor bodies and all marginalized peoples harmed by the patriarchal and colonialist system of the United States of America. The video of George Floyd’s murder was the catalyst for this work. As more…

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Terrain Biennial – Exiled in Light :|: Through the Looking Glass

Exhibited at 4916 S. Leamington, Chicago, IL as part of the Terrain Exhibitions 2021. The Exiled in Light videos were projected upon the windows of the host house and viewed by visitors from the outside. The Never(W)here soundscape accompanied the video animations for an immersive and eerie transportation of the viewer experience. Collaborations with dancers…

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Cosmic Schematics – Imagined Architectural Space & Visual Language

Earlier drawings that mapped emotional, physical, and spiritual conditions during the Covid19 Pandemic have led to new conceptual iterations of my drawing practice. These latest drawings use the schematic language developed by the cosmic mapping experience. I have begun to think about the drawings as hieroglyphics, an unknown and intuitive “alphabet” of imagined spiritual spaces….

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Exiled in Light :|: Never(W)here

“Never(W)here“, an immersive Exhibition at SAIC Low-Res MFA Thesis Show, July 2021 Valerie Xanos has an interdisciplinary artist practice. Her thesis work uses analog and digital media to create site-specific, immersive installation art within a particularly composed architectural space. The Exiled in Light :|: Never(W)here series uses light projection, LCD installation, video animation and a…

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Mapping the Covid19 Experience

Mapping Space, Time, Movement, Sound, and Emotions through Drawing During the 2020 Covid19 Quarantine in Chicago, IL I’ve been working with my GAC students and colleague, Andres Hernandez to visually map our experiences during the Covid19 Pandemic. We actually started mapping our community before Covid19, but then we were concerned with issues of safety and…

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Basile

Proud to be able to collaborate with my daughter Athena Xanos and her best friend (my other daughter from another mother) Jessica Dzialek for this series of photographs created Oct 2019 – March 2020. The works chronicle the birth of Athena’s son, my grandson, Basile Grey. Printed on fabric, we explore the labor of women,…

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Black Hole

Here are a few of glimpses into my final video for the Never(W)here Installation.

Excerpts from “Exiled in Light” – Νύχτα

  Νύχτα :|: Night            Without the bustle of people, you’d think the city would be silent. But in the dead of night, you hear the background noises behind the silence. There is a hum of electricity. It is a low vibration and almost palpable in the air. I imagine how it would feel if…

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