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The (Auto) Biography
- Book, 400 pages
- May 2005 - present
- The book, The Autobiography by Janis Rafailidou, is an art project that has been displayed in the Henry Moore Institute Library, Leeds (March 2005) and presented as part part of the Situation Leeds Festival in 2005. The book can be found in the Leeds City Art Library shelves, where it will be permanently displayed. (http://librarycatalogue.leedslearning.net, Modern Art Section: 709.2RAF)
'The (Auto)Biography: My name is Ιoanna but they call me Janis' is the first of a series of books based on the same conceptual structure.
Like all her previous projects, The (auto) biography series is a construction of ironies and debatable viewpoints upon mainstream culture. It spans Janis’ life from her birth in 1984 to the beginning of her student career as an artist. This first volume is the starting point of a series of ‘self development’ processes.
The autobiographical text is a narcissistic endeavour by the author to expose her self into a labyrinth of questionable visual and conceptual perspectives that are not just part of her practice but of a wider social form. It is an attempt to separate and challenge herself within the celebrity value of today’s consumer culture.
The book presents a problematic form of concepts contradictory to each other. It could be seen both as an analyses of the personal aspect of being an artist, as well as an interactive work of art, with its purpose to challenge the reader and outline the relationships between audience, work and author.
As in her fiction, the narrator here is an inspired observer of 21st century consumer culture,
with her ironic approach to mass manipulation and seductive lifestyles – in this instance, her own.