Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva is an internationally recognised, contemporary visual artist working across sculpture, installation, print and architectural interventions. Hadzi-Vasileva was commissioned by the Vatican for the Pavilion of the Holy See, at the 56th International Art Exhibition with her work Haruspex (2015) and represented the country of her birth, Macedonia, at the 55th International Art Exhibition, La Biennale di Venezia, with Silentio Pathologia (2013).
In 2023 she was awarded a MacDowell fellowship with an Anne Stark Locher & Kurt Locher Fellowship. Elpida has received further awards including from Wellcome Trust, Pollock-Krasner Foundation, Arts Council England and Ministry of Culture of Macedonia. Her artworks have been commissioned and developed in urban and rural sites, in interior and exterior spaces, including The University of Nottingham; Djanogly Gallery, Nottingham; Danielle Arnaud Gallery, London; Nymans Gardens; Fabrica Gallery, Brighton; Mottisfont Abbey, Romsey; Pied à Terre, London; Gloucester Cathedral, Bennachie, Aberdeenshire; L'H du Siège, France; Kilmainham Gaol Museum, Ireland. Permanent commissions can be visited at Preston Park, Brighton, The University of Nottingham and Kilmardinny House, Glasgow.
Hadzi-Vasileva's artworks are in public collections including Luxelakes a4 Museums, Chengdu, China; The Vatican; Soho House; Pooseum, Australia; Office of Public Works, Dublin, Ireland; Križanke, Ljubljana, Slovenia; Casoria Contemporary Art Museum, Napoli, Italy; Osten, Skopje, Macedonia; MIMA, Middlesbrough and New Hall Art Collection, Cambridge and private collections around the world.
Her materials range from the extraordinary to the ordinary, and the ephemeral or discarded to the highly precious; they have included fallen trees, foodstuffs and precious metals. One of her signature pieces Fragility (2015) made with hanging layers of caul fat.
Central to her practice is a response to the particularities of place, its history, locale, environment and communities. Elpida has worked in collaboration with many other professionals and organisations including the RSPB, and the Forestry Commission to The Vatican, and from Cathedral settings such as Gloucester Cathedral to National Trust properties as well as contemporary visual arts organisations such as National Gallery of Macedonia and Djanogly Gallery, University of Nottingham in UK. Hadzi-Vasileva's work reflects a continuing interest in how humanity behaves in our exploitation and destruction of nature and how urbanisation, consumerism, a disposable society and hunger for resources impacts our environment. It also reflects on the experience of fleeing war and hunger; the transmission of disease from untouched parts of our world leading to pandemics, and global warming. Unusual natural materials are used to critically consider the fragility of nature and make the viewer think, respond and react. Hadzi-Vasileva is interested in how the exchange of knowledge might develop through collaborative working and in the contexts of landscape, heritage, science and community as offered by each location.
