Page 90 - ΝUMO 2026

FOL LOW / My k o n o s THE SLOW

CRAFT

A Mykonos-based artist and

teacher, Irene Syrianou works with
mosaic as a medium of memory,

transforming fragments into quiet,
enduring narratives.

Interview by Despoina Sampson

Irene Syrianou is a mosaic artist based in Myko- the tesserae, that were missing seemed to speak almost louder
nos, where she has maintained her workshop and retail space than those that remained. That was when I understood that
near the waterfront since 2001, while also offering hands-on mo- this art is not only about image. It is about memory.
saic lessons to visitors and locals alike. In a place often defined Your work moves between the reproduction of ancient motifs
by surface, speed, and spectacle, she stands quietly apart, not as and contemporary creation. How do you balance tradition
a figure of the island’s luxury façade, but as a creator rooted in with personal expression?
its deeper layers. Raised between Mykonos and Delos, she car- Tradition is an old path. I follow it, but I never walk exactly in
ries within her a lived connection to the Cycladic landscape and the same footsteps. Each piece is a small deviation, a personal
its history. Her work draws directly from this proximity: from years route within something that existed long before me.
spent among the ancient mosaics of Delos, from the discipline You continue to cut each tessera by hand, following an ancient
of restoration, and from a practice grounded in patience and technique. What does this process mean to you in an industri-
handwork. Each tessera she uses is cut by hand, one by one, alized world moving at the speed of Artificial Intelligence?
continuing a tradition that resists speed and automation. For Each tessera cut by hand carries a sound, a rhythm. It is a slow
more than two decades, she has also been teaching—both in act, almost stubborn, within a world that is always in a hurry.
her workshop and across remote islands of the Cyclades and Somewhere between those small fragments, I find a way to
the Dodecanese—passing on not only a technique, but a way concentrate and to lose myself at the same time.
of seeing. Her mosaics, whether contemporary compositions or Teaching seems to be a central part of your journey, from
ancient-inspired works, are built from fragments, from materials your workshop in Mykonos to schools on remote islands.
once discarded, reassembled into something enduring. In Myko- What would you like your students, and visitors, to take away
nos, Irene Syrianou represents a different kind of narrative; one from this experience, rooted as it is in the reuse of materials?
rooted not in display, but in continuity. I don’t want to show my students only how to make a mosaic.
You spent ten years on Delos, surrounded by ancient mosa- A mosaic is born from what is left behind—from fragments, from
ics. Was there a specific moment when you felt this art truly materials that once had another life. Slowly, both students and
touched you? visitors begin to discover this. And then the way they look at it
I am, in many ways, what you would call a village girl. I was changes. They no longer see just an image, but a second chance.
raised within an agricultural family between Delos and Myko- What do you dream of capturing in mosaic?
nos, close to the land and its rhythms. I first encountered my I carry within me many images that never became works. Time
craft when I spent a period working among the antiquities of always slips away. There is never enough of it. And yet, the
A mosaic artist rooted in Mykonos and Delos, Delos, alongside generous and devoted teachers who shared seabed is there. It persists. Fish passing like shadows. Broken
shaping memory through fragments.
their knowledge with me. Delos, for me, is a cool spring of self- vessels, anemones, sea urchins, cuttlefish—and an octopus un-
awareness. There was a moment when I stood in front of a folding. Everything remains below, in the half-light, waiting to
mosaic worn down by time, the sun, and the sea. The pieces, become tesserae, to come together… to breathe. •

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