ICP alum Myrto Tzima (Creative Practices ‘26) is exhibiting her solo show Into Temptation Safe in the Wide Open Arms of Hell at Onassis Stegii in Athens as part of I Have Never Traveled to Australia, a large-scale immersive project by Greek filmmaker and musician The Boy.
Amid an installation by visual artist Kostas Lambridis, Onassis Stegi's -1 level transports viewers to a parallel universe inspired by The Boy's imagined Australia, a fictional landscape shaped by cinema, memory, and fantasy. Hidden within the space is a small cinema screening The Boy's feature film Maralinga Manningrida Mandamaru, while the surrounding walls resemble a gallery in disarray, marked by cracks, holes, and signs of nature slowly reclaiming the architecture.
Tzima's series of black-and-white photographs, Into Temptation Safe in the Wide Open Arms of Hell, engages with the film and installation. Some frames are broken, some photographs partially cut away, creating a fragmented environment where photography, film, and installation intersect.
"We no longer carry sleep in our heads, nor in our beds. Tonight, however, we hope we will sleep. We come from the desert. We kiss in the forest. We are sisters from other times and other places. We grew up drinking milk with cherry liqueur. Today is not our birthday. We want to remember. The children are playing with wire ropes, making circles to catch the sun, chasing ants with magnifying glasses. We pray for the animals and the insects. We photograph one another. We leave evidence behind. Today we ran away from home. Before leaving, we left milk and treats for the dog".
Myrto Tzima is a visual artist and film art director from Athens, Greece. Her mediums include photography, writing, filming, and working with archives. Working almost exclusively with analog mediums, her photography practice is tightly connected to darkroom techniques and alternative processes. At the core of her work, across all art forms, is a deep interest in how the memory of experience affects the perpetual “now.”
Images: Myrto Tzima
Myrto Tzima
