Anthoula Lelekidis

Anthoula Lelekidis is a first-generation Greek-American lens-based artist who utilizes photography, photographic collage, and mixed media in her practice. Her work navigates themes of personal memory, loss, migration, and the inability to create new memories. Stemming from Marianne Hirsch’s concept of post-memory, Lelekidis’ work navigates the relationship of later generations to the collective and cultural trauma of their ancestors. She searches for connections between her birthplace, New York, and that of her ancestors through her family’s history, originating in Greece and Asia Minor. Her work, as it approaches the innate need for an individualized story, oscillates between post-memory and realization.

With a deep interest in the archive, Lelekidis alters found family photos to interpret a deeper tie to her heritage and uncovers ancestral roots within the blank spaces of her recollection. Through this process, the artist’s works have a strong capacity to draw the viewer in and engage them in thoughts around their own histories as well.

Lelekidis holds a BFA in Photography from Parsons School of Design and received the Community Fellowship from the International Center of Photography. She was a resident at the Skopelos Foundation of the Arts and in 2008, earned a scholarship from the Students On Ice Organization to travel to photograph Antarctica. Her work has been exhibited extensively.