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JUNE 09 - JUNE 20, 2026
LYSISTRATA
Masks of Ancient Drama
SOLO EXHIBITION
ARTIST:
ROUSSI MAGDA.
On Tuesday, June 9, 2026, at 7:00 p.m.,
we are pleased to inaugurate the solo exhibition of
Magda Roussi
entitled
"Lysistrata"
Masks of Ancient Drama
Art historian and curator Annita Patsouraki writes:
"Magda Roussi is a visual artist, researcher, and designer with a multidimensional creative career. Combining art, education, and research, she has developed a distinctive artistic language inspired by Greek cultural heritage, nature, history, and the evolutionary journey of humankind.
She has devoted particular attention to the study and revival of the ancient Greek theatrical mask, highlighting its contribution to contemporary visual creation and the preservation of cultural memory. According to the artist herself, this body of work has acquired ‘an original local, national, and global character.’
Lysistrata by Aristophanes (411 BC) is the most renowned anti-war comedy of antiquity, retaining a timeless, relevant, and immediately engaging character.
The Peloponnesian War has dragged on for years. The dynamic heroine overturns social conventions by gathering women from all the Greek city-states in Athens. Together, they decide that in order to compel their husbands to agree to peace, they will abstain from marital relations. At the same time, they seize control of the Acropolis in order to oversee the public treasury.
Women and men, each with distinct personalities, become involved in inventive dialogues and comic-tragic scenes.
Kalonike, Lampito, Kinesias, Proboulos, and many others are brought to life through the characteristic masks worn by actors in ancient Greek theatre. These masks reveal and define the character and personality of each individual.
Their features are intentionally exaggerated so they can be recognized even by spectators seated in the furthest rows of the theatre.
Strongly emphasized eyes with open, perforated sockets outlined in white or black intensify the gaze. Smiling mouths with wide openings and red lips convey expression. Hair is stylized into spiral curls and ringlets with raised circular endings. Beards follow the jawline through dense vertical incisions, while the cheeks are highlighted with rosy circular forms.
The purpose of the theatrical mask is not anatomical realism but the expression of personality through the intensity of features, rigidity, and stylization.
Respecting the traditional elements of ancient Greek comedy and its playwright, Magda Roussi skillfully recreates these monumental sculptural masks, remaining faithful to the archetypal characteristics of the characters. They are rendered in contemporary, highly durable materials, meticulously crafted in detail, enriched with vivid, long-lasting colors and luminous brushstrokes that enhance relief, volume, and the quality of handmade workmanship, while deliberately rejecting industrial reproduction.
As a cultural and historical symbol, the mask is inseparably linked to Greek cultural heritage. It is directly connected to both the outward appearance and the inner essence of the individual, serving as a bridge between the past and the tradition of Greek theatre.
Face, persona, and mask are interconnected concepts that have acquired different interpretations, uses, and philosophies across cultures.
In ancient theatrical practice, the mask was revealing rather than concealing; it acted as a mediator of the identity it embodied.
Ancient comedy conveys profound social and anti-war messages, emphasizing unity, collectivity, harmony, and the common good. It rejects conflict, tension, and war, encouraging love, mutual understanding, and cooperation.
The words of Lysistrata remain timeless and prophetic:
‘The Earth in pieces, palaces and rubbish.’
May we learn from them."
BIOGRAPHY
Magda Roussi
Magda Roussi was born in 1948 in Piraeus, Greece.
She is a visual artist, researcher, and designer with a multidimensional creative career that combines art, education, and cultural research.
She studied Fine Arts and Design at the Athens School of Fine Arts (A.S.F.A.). Awarded a three-year scholarship, she continued her studies at the University of Toronto and Middlesex University, earning a Bachelor of Arts & Technology degree and a Master with Merit in Design.
She subsequently pursued doctoral research focusing on the three monotheistic religions—Christianity, Judaism, and Islam—with a dissertation entitled Dance of the Sacraments.
For many years, she lived in Madrid, Spain, and Toronto, Canada, where she studied and worked, gaining valuable experience in international cultural and professional environments.
Drawing on her studies in painting, iconography, fine arts, technology, and design, she developed a distinctive artistic language inspired by Greek cultural heritage, nature, history, and humanity. Her work is distinguished by its research-based and creative exploration of themes such as gender equality, Byzantine tradition, European cultural identity, and the revival of the ancient Greek theatrical mask.
A significant aspect of her artistic practice is devoted to the study and contemporary revival of the ancient Greek theatrical persona and mask through collections, exhibitions, educational programs, theatrical projects, and collaborations with universities in Greece and abroad. Her activities have been associated with the University of Piraeus, cultural institutions, and international educational initiatives.
Her work has been presented in exhibitions, museums, educational institutions, and cultural events, and has been featured and reviewed by both the Greek and international press, highlighting her contribution to contemporary visual arts and the preservation of cultural memory.
She has held sixteen (16) solo exhibitions and participated in one hundred and twenty-five (125) group exhibitions, including international biennials in Greece and abroad. In parallel, she coordinated forty-two (42) visual arts exhibitions featuring works by her students in collaboration with the University of Piraeus and other institutions in Greece and internationally.
Magda Roussi is a member of the Chamber of Fine Arts of Greece (EETE), the Study Group of Ancient Greek Dance (Dora Stratou), the Artists Rights Society (A.R.S.), Dryos Topoi (Faculty of Philosophy, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens), UNESCO – International Council of Dance (CID), Allos – Otherness, the Art Schools of the Piraeus Association, the Piraeus Society of Letters and Arts, and Visual Arts Ontario (VAO), among other organizations.
She has travelled to fifty-four (54) countries.
Her artworks are included in museum collections in Greece and abroad.
She lives and works in Piraeus, Greece.