Προίκα (=Dowry) in the Greek language is a tradition that dates back to ancient times and is preserved in many countries such as Turkey, Italy, Argentina until today.

Parents had been collecting pieces of dowry since the baby girl was born until the moment a man would ask her to marry him.
A prika usually consisted of clothes, embroidery, jewellery and in many cases it was a kind of family heirloom passed down from the grandmother or great-grandmother, which in this way remained among the women of the family as common heritage.

It is said that weaving is one of the oldest arts in the world and that the idea of weaving came when people started observing birds weaving their houses. My grandmother was an excellent weaver as well. The idea of the project came to me in September 2021 in the lovely courtyard of my (back then) 91 year old grandmother in Chania, Crete who I went to greet before moving to Italy. Wishing that we would meet again, she narrated a personal story of hers well camouflaged for 86 years. It took me 9 months to give birth to this artwork thanks to this old story.

The base is a wooden bedside table with identical front and back sides, as a reminder of a shared married life. The symbol of knitting as a timeless, often underestimated and outdated women's craft, used for many years as one of the important gifts for dowry in the creation of a new family. The carefully woven shapes became narratives for me in order to talk to everyone about all those we do not dare to say. Dedicated to all our mothers and sisters and especially to the victims of femicide.

Material: Marble

Dimensions: 30 x 35 x 40cm