MMXV Bestiary

"MMXV Bestiary explores monstrosity amid Greece’s post-2008 financial crisis, highlighting the resulting impact of violence, poverty, and youth unemployment. Drawing from personal experiences, Niki Danai Chania wrote semi-fictional stories that merge mental health struggles and substance abuse with ancient myths of innocents cursed into monsters. The mythical creatures are entangled with their modern counterparts, bound by unjust social contracts that offer no escape, revealing how social inequality breeds monstrosity.

A multi-media installation features terracotta ‘monsters’ amid a loud drone-noise soundscape made from the monstrous parts of the project’s protagonists. These tired but determined creatures yearn for understanding, freedom and equality. Blending elements of the divine and the underground, this temple of monsters aims to evoke empathy and empowerment, giving monsters space to exist and tell their stories."