Untitled 2
C-Type print, 100 x 210 cm, 2024
Artwork Statement
Demi Kromidellis’ photographic practice explores cultural memory, loss, and fragmented identity through a deeply personal lens. As a third-generation Greek-Australian, her work questions the extent to which she can truly connect to the cultural weight of her ancestry—what it means to inherit stories half-remembered, languages faded, and rituals unspoken. Working with archival material, oral histories, and handwritten fragments, Kromidellis rephotographs and enlarges these elements through darkroom processes to build layered, evocative compositions.
Her installations resemble both shrine and archive—spaces where the past is not preserved intact, but pieced together through gestures of care and curiosity. Despite the erosion of generational memory, Kromidellis uses what remains—photos, documents, recollections—as anchors in an ongoing effort to reconnect with her heritage. Yet her work does not offer resolution; instead, it accepts ambiguity, inviting viewers to reflect on how cultural identity is shaped as much by absence and loss as it is by presence and continuity.
Her images ask: What does it mean to remember across time and distance? What happens when all that is left are fragments? In this tension, Kromidellis finds space for both mourning and meaning.
Artist Bio
Demi Kromidellis is a multi-award-winning emerging artist based in Melbourne, recently completing a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) at the Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne. Her photographic practice explores personal and collective memory, cultural heritage, and intergenerational identity. Kromidellis has exhibited extensively, with recent shows including ARISE 2 at Abbotsford Convent, Pride at 138 Gallery, Develop at the Museum of Australian Photography, and Future Call at Te Waka Tūhura Gallery in Auckland. She was a shortlisted finalist for the 2023 Majlis Travelling Scholarship and recipient of both the Evans Family Award for Photography (2023) and the Fiona Myer Award (2024).
Her work often involves archival processes, blending photography, oral histories, and handwritten text to examine themes of displacement and cultural continuity. In 2024, she co-presented proika, a collaborative exhibition in a garage space in Cremorne facilitated by yitonia, further highlighting her interest in alternative and community-based modes of exhibition-making.
