Selena Kofina

People have the tendency to express their feelings in various and extraordinary ways. Art is my way to express what I really want to share with the world.  

I was brought up with the Mediterranean colours of Greece. The child of a Dutch mother and a Greek father, I was able to develop an understanding of different cultures and perspectives and this has influenced me profoundly to aspire to create art through my imagination and experiences taught along the way. Living on an island, I was privileged to have a close relationship with nature, feeding off of its emotions, its sounds, behaviours and colours.

At the age of fifteen, having moved from the island to boarding school in order to seek a better education, brought unpleasant emotions and thoughts that led my hand to express feelings through drawing, thus leading me to discover a whole new world ahead. Throughout my experience in high school, I was exposed to new methods and techniques that enhanced my artistic vocabulary, which fed my willingness to create more and better works. Art never ceased to be my main way of expression; whether happy or sad, it has been a part of me.  

Art has made me understand the simplistic things of life, things that have no price, and cannot be described as things. Working with handicapped children showed me a world I had never experienced before, I was astonished and happy to be able to provide such a valuable social service of this kind. Again Art combined our thoughts and gave bright emotions to the children. I understood their smiles and their emotions, because it is something that we mutually share.

Throughout my experiences in school, work, volunteering, and personal creativity, I have come to appreciate that I am best expressed through art. My character prevents me to be open and extroverted as others, I prefer to observe, understand and think.

There have been a few experiences wherein I have realised that not everyone is as keen to the musical sense of art as I am. I have worked as an intern in the Art Department of my boarding school, as a waiter on my Greek island, and as a water sports instructor also on the island, and at such jobs, interaction with a large number of people is required. Through these experiences, I recognize that there are many forms of expression, many ways in which human beings react and pursue their lives on an everyday basis. These interferences with various individuals inspired me to create an art exhibition in Skiathos Island, Greece this summer. With the various perspectives that existed in my current world, I wanted to share and see people’s reactions and hear their unbarred perspectives upon what I loved, my art.  

It has helped me realise what it is that makes me different, and what it is that drives me, and what I am willing to be. An artist.