Apostolis Polymeris

"Uprooting: The story of our grandfathers"


This installation tells the very personal and moving history of the artist’s grandfather and his migration to Belgium in 1972. The video is shown in a very impersonal archive environment that gives Kafkaesque associations with the big archives that house stories of uncountable numbers of people, one of the stories gets life in the artist’s video.


« In the building of the archives in Brussels, in a small room with hundreds of lists with names of foreigners who had moved there until the middle of the 1970’s, I found my grandfathers name. He and his family immigrated to Belgium in 1972. The video illustrates the difficulties that they faced in Istanbul and how they decided to move to a new country, hoping for a better life.»


. Apostolis Polymeris




Apostolis is an artist and graphic designer born in Brussels but with roots from Greece. In Brussels he studied at the Royal Academy of fine arts. His main fields are poster and book design, illustration, animation and film.


Apostolis Polymeris - Oficial Site


\\


/ My european story


My family moved from Istanbul to Brussels in 1962. My fathers was born and raised in the north of Greece.


I was born in Brussels by Greek parents and raised in Greece. My family moved from Istanbul to Brussels in 1962. My fathers was born and raised in the north of Greece. When I was almost two years old I have moved to Greece for the first time. There I mostly lived in Athens but at times we stayed at my fathers small village. In 2002, I have I began studying graphic design in the Technological University of Athens. In 2008 I have completed my studies, and since then I have worked as a graphic designer for several companies. In October of 2008 i took the decision to move back to Brussels and continue my studies at the Royal Academy of fine arts. As Belgium is located in the center of Europe, I have had the chance to travel often to other European countries and experience different ways cultures. Being Greek and Belgian was always an honor for me because in my opinion multiculturalism makes you an open-minded person.