Today we’d like to introduce you to Helenya Apostolou.
Hi Helenya, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
So, as cliche as it sounds, I have always loved making stuff.
Art has been a hobby of mine from a very young age, and I would always be preoccupied with some creative project or another.
That didn’t change when I grew up, and I spent a lot of my time practicing drawing throughout my teenage years. Of course, art was my favourite subject at school too, primarily because I felt like the potential was limitless!
Unlike other subjects which had rules, regulations, tick boxes etc. there is no cap on art- you can always change perspective and make something new, or push yourself to practice more, or find a different and exciting approach to making work.
I find the process of creating deeply calming and meditative, so that definitely pushed me to set up a life for myself where I can have as much time to make as possible!
I studied art at The University of Leeds, UK, and there I was exposed to news ways of thinking. Most importantly, I had a safe space to make terrible art – or at least, artwork that didn’t need to be ‘liked’ or ‘sellable’. I think creating work that is commercially viable can sometimes remove the spark, even now, but at that time it wasn’t something I had ever considered possible! I had always considered art as something to be liked / enjoyed. I think art school gets a lot of stick but actually I learnt more than I could ever put into words there.
And that was where I first started making light-reactive art, which was a fun experiment that I never stopped enjoying!
After graduating, I had about 12 months of not making anything. It was such a confusing period for me, I felt a bit chewed up and spat out by the academic system, and didn’t really know how to function creatively in the real world. IE. how to make art and earn enough money to survive. So, I worked in hospitality instead. And plotted!
Eventually I realised the long hours and intense socialising in that industry was NOT conducive to a productive and sustainable art practice for me, so I found a job in education. I absolutely love working with children and helping their creativity blossom, but I did find myself constantly daydreaming about a life where I could wake up and paint on my own terms!
That dream forced me to work two jobs – by day I was a teaching assistant at a primary school, and in the evenings I would make art, film the process and make videos to share online. I also learnt to programme, how to market myself, and I built a website from scratch, where I could sell my prints to the world. At the weekends I set up art stalls at any events I could get into, and I started applying for as many open calls as possible (so many rejections! SO MANY!).
I basically kept doing that for 3 years, changing my day job to become an art and design technician in an art college instead. That was a really rewarding role, which I enjoyed a lot – but did further emphasise how much I wanted to be a self-employed artist able to create my own work rather than constantly facilitating students!
Anyway, after a lot of free labour and consistency, I eventually had some videos that performed really well on social media, and that allowed me to become a full-time artist, just last year!
I still can’t quite believe this is my job, but I have to admit there is a lot less ‘making stuff’ in my day to day than I had first thought.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Well, as you can tell from my previous answer, it has certainly not been a consistently smooth road!
Working two jobs was definitely not ideal, and even just thinking about the hours I used to work now makes me feel burnt out now. 8:30am – 5pm and then 5pm – 10pm.
When my videos first went viral, I had about 80 orders in one weekend. Which was AMAZING! Except, I had never had to post more than 1 order a month – so when I went to the post office with a bag full of 25 packages they just laughed at me and said I had to do it online. There were honestly so many learning curves – who knew that you can’t just post a load of things at once at your local post office? I had no idea how a lot of small business ran until I hit that point in my business / career, and I ended up frantically googling youtube tutorials on everything, all the time. It was also too much for me to do on my own initially, and my wonderful partner would always end up helping me out, which I am so incredibly grateful for. There were (and still are!) so many hidden jobs or longwinded processes to learn about and manage all the time.
So yes, there were definitely struggles along the way, but I always kept going in order to reach my goal of being a full time artist. However, I am beginning to learn that as an artist, your career is still full of ups and downs. Fluctuations, peaks and troughs, etc. even once you reach the point of becoming self-sufficient. There are chaotically busy months where you have no time to think, and then quiet months where you have A LOT of time to think. And usually it is about how much you aren’t doing.
Either way, I’d say things are much easier to commit to when you have a clear vision of where you want to be. I probably could have chosen a different route at many points in my journey so far, but I have always been confident that everything I work towards will guide me to where I eventually want to be. It is hard to put into words, but I suppose a lot of religions might consider that ‘faith’. I think it is just life – you have to trust that everything will work out in whatever way and flow along with the ups and the downs.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I make light-reactive art.
That means that I make art that moves and changes with different coloured lights.
I use the Samoiloff Effect to turn layered illustrations into short and repetitive stop-motion animated cycles, so that when exposed to red, green and blue LED lighting, my work moves and changes. I love to explore deeper subjects within this practice, using the sense of movement as a form of storytelling, allowing meanings to unfurl and fade in and out of clarity as my paintings and prints change.
Essentially, I make work to bridge the gap between movement and stillness – it started because I wanted to make a painting that could also become animated. Which, I think I have achieved! Some people have described my pieces as real life GIFS? I like that idea because it also bridges the gap between the online and offline worlds. So yeah, there is a lot of bringing together of opposites.
However, regardless of the lighting effects, I also enjoy the vivid colours my work generates through the layered subtractive primary colours (Cyan, Yellow and Magenta). Recently, I have been experimenting with the arrangement of the colours I use, spreading them further apart so they can be viewed all at once (See ‘Intangible Touch’). I am interested in using these colours to represent various planes of existence, coinciding on one canvas.
What makes you happy?
Making things!
I love love love to just make things. Be that prints, paintings, illustrations, carvings, sculptures, clothing, stories, jewellery ANYTHING – I just have this incessant need in me to keep producing stuff and turning ideas from inside my brain into real life tangible things that other people can see / feel / experience.
When you think about it, it is absolutely mental that we have the capacity to do that as human beings.
And it is my favourite thing about being alive.
It is so hard to even begin to express how much I love being creative, but I am sure I’m not alone with this feeling. I find the outpouring of my ideas into this world so therapeutic, and the more I make stuff the harder it becomes to not make stuff. The inkling of an idea, then the act of doing it, and the final result – it just brings me so much joy!
I suppose I feel most like me when I am making things. I don’t know if that’s just an inherently human quality, or if only some people can relate but honestly I do think it’s such a fundamental part of existence. It’s a bit like leaving a mark on the world that says ‘I am / was here, I exist / existed’. Actually it’s even more than that. I think it’s how I engage with the world and become part of the grand old tapestry of life.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://helenyaapostolou.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/helenya_art/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100071127998286
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenya-apostolou-b20156202/?originalSubdomain=uk
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Helenya_art
Image Credits
Zoe Moungabio, @zoe.v_m