Les cieux en gloire Artwork

I work with mosaic and collage—two mediums that have long existed at the margins of contemporary art—and I treat them as living languages rather than techniques. I am interested in what happens when materials resist, fracture, and carry memory. Stone, paper, pigment, textiles, and found objects are not neutral for me; they arrive with history, weight, and tension, and I allow those qualities to shape the work. Mosaic entered my practice early on, not as ornament, but as structure and thought. By fragmenting and reassembling it, I began to expand it beyond its traditional architectural role, allowing it to function as image, object, and spatial presence at once. Over time, this led me to collage—not as a preparatory step, but as an equally rigorous practice. Collage offers immediacy and mobility, a way to engage directly with contemporary experience, perception, and the circulation of images. Fragmentation is central to my methodology. I cut, break, and recompose materials into systems where each element retains its individuality while contributing to a larger visual field. Meaning is never fixed. I want the work to remain open, layered, and unresolved—inviting the viewer to participate in its interpretation rather than consume a closed narrative. My process is intuitive and research-driven. I allow interruption, revision, and accumulation to guide the final form. Storytelling emerges through material, rhythm, and composition, not illustration. Personal experience intersects with social and political realities, creating works that reflect both inner states and collective conditions. I am drawn to permanence and instability at the same time. Mosaic carries weight, duration, and continuity; collage introduces fragility, speed, and change. I maintain the tension between these two practices deliberately. It is within this tension that my work finds its identity—one rooted in history yet responsive to the present. Each work I create is conceived as a fragment of an ongoing narrative, meant to be lived with over time and rediscovered through repeated encounters. Pelly Angelopoulou is a Belgian–Greek contemporary artist working with mosaic, collage, mixed media, and textile-based works. Her practice explores fragmentation, material memory, identity, and storytelling, combining traditional techniques with contemporary visual language.