PRESENTATION: Nikos Podias-Safe Area

Nikos Podias lives in Athens. He studied at the Athens School of Fine Arts and completed an MA in Scenography at Central Saint Martins, London. Meticulously working with delicate materials, his art explores impermanence, myth, and cross-cultural narratives. He has exhibited internationally and curated site-specific projects that emphasize care, transformation, and the presence of human experience.

By Vasiliki Trochidou
Photo: Vasiliki Trochidou’s Archive

In his exhibition “Safe Area” at CITRONNE Gallery, Nikos Podias invites us to reconsider what safety truly means — not as the absence of danger, but as a subtle balance between resilience and vulnerability. With dedication, precision and patience, he transforms humble, once-discarded materials — used tea bags, cigarette foils, Japanese paper — into surfaces that recall mosaics, delicate textiles or even skins of creatures. In a persistent, almost meditative process of assembly, he traces a visual language of protection, crafting “skins” and “armors” of paper and light, meshes and talismans that — though made of delicate matter — radiate a quiet inner strength.

The exhibition spans the entirety of the gallery space, establishing an atmosphere of calm and contemplation. Light plays a pivotal role, revealing the transparency of the works and casting shadows that enhance their reflective quality. Visitors roam freely, as though wandering through a sheltered zone where time seems to slow. The surfaces appear to breathe; patterns repeat like whispers, evoking the rhythm of breath or prayer.

Stand-out pieces include “Inside Out”, “Armor”, “Safety Net” and “Mythological”. The first two works draw inspiration from the shell of the cicada and the armor itself, evoking renewal and transformation. Safety Net acts like an invisible web of protection, while Mythological references the Golden Fleece — a symbol of elusive yet cherished security. In other works, textures recall the snake’s skin or the hedgehog’s quills — archetypes of defence and wisdom revisited with a contemporary, almost mystical sensibility. Podias does more than make objects; he creates environments. The viewer does not merely look — they inhabit, engage in a quiet dialogue with matter.

His craft bears a ritual quality — a practice of repetition, care and patience. His studio becomes a personal “safe area”, a space of introspection and transformation. The reuse of materials transcends ecological concern: it becomes a symbolic act of restoration, a gesture salvaging what has been discarded or worn. Through this process, the faded and the fragile assume new form, value and meaning.

Safe Area speaks to our human desire for protection and safety — but also to the acceptance of transparency as part of existence. Through light and paper, Podias reminds us that fragility is not weakness; it is a form of strength, a mode of staying open and alive. In an era when the idea of safety feels increasingly uncertain, the artist offers a space of reflection and simplicity — a place that does not promise shelter from the world, but invites a gentler relationship with it.

Photo: Nikos Podias, Safety Net, Installation view “Safe Area”, CITRONNE Gallery-Athens, 2025-2026, Photo © & Courtesy Vasiliki Trochidou

Info:CITRONNE Gallery, 19 Patriarchou Ioakim, 4th floor, Athens, Greece, Duration: 23/10/2025-3/1/2026, Days & Hours: Tue, Thu, Fri 11:00-20:00, Wed, Sat 11:00-16:00, https://citronne.com/