No water
From wall carvings to flour drawings: The process

The flour drawings realized during the seven hour intervention/performance in the streets of Athens on March 26, 2015, had as point of departure wall carvings made by the detainees during the former underground Nazi detention centers in 4 Korai Street in Athens, now Memorial Site 1941-1944. The two basements, their walls covered in phrases and drawings of the prisoners from the period 1941-44, are preserved as a monument open to the public. During the first phase of the project "no water" a documentation of the wall carvings took place, in four photographic sessions. The material drawn during these sessions served as point of departure for the creation of the ephemeral flour drawings onto the pavements and squares of the city. The process from the documented wall carving to the flour drawing made during the intervention is demonstrated here using the example of one of the ten wall carvings interpreted during the intervention.

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Photograph of a wall carving located in the monument's second basement, taken during the first phase of the project. The wall carving's dimensions are 15 x 16 cm (5.9'' x 6.3'')

The black and white line drawing generated from the photograph of the wall carving. The image was amplified to th desired scale of its  flour drawing interpretation and printed. The print was then used as blueprint for the creation of a transparency film stencil.

The stencil was used during the intervention to create a dotted design  that served as a guide for the creation of the drawing. If the drawing was made on a layer of wheat flower, the dotted design was created with the application of carob meal that would also be the material used for the creation of the image.

After the conclusion of the dotted design on the wheat flour surface the makeshift flour pen was filled with carob meal in order to begin drawing the image.

In the final step of the drawing process, using the flour pen, the dotted design created with the use of the stencil serves as a rough guide/blueprint for the creation of the drawing.

An intermediate stage of the process. The image suggested by the dotted design comes to life with the application of carob meal using the flour pen. 

Refilling the flour pen with carob meal during the drawing process.

The concluded drawing, of approx. dimensions, 80 x 90 cm (31.5'' x 35.5'')

The photographs of the intervention were taken by Christina Georgiadou