Maro Vandorou
Bay Area, CA
https://www.ateliervandorou.com
IG: atelier_vandorou/

a-ne-mo-i-je-re-ja ” — “priestess of the winds
2023-2024
Folios of handmade translucent Abaca, end covers and slipcase in Enduro Ice film coated with Kozo, Text screen printed in 3 variants: white ink, translucent ink gilded with platinum pigment and bespoke ink of Fra Angelico Lapis Lazuli pigment
book closed 13″ x 5.2″ x 1″ . Concertina binding of 6 folios open to 13 feet

Artist Statement

“a-ne-mo-i-je-re-ja”

This artist book is a letter across time to the Minoan “priestess of the winds” from the island of Crete. She is a spectral figure whose name “a-ne-mo-i-je-re-ja” is on two clay tablets discovered during the Knossos palace excavations by Evans. The tablets are inscribed in the syllabic dialect of Linear B, dating approximately to 1380 BC. The worship and control of the winds was of paramount importance for the Minoans, a powerful seafaring nation known for its thalassocracy.

I first encountered “a-ne-mo-i-je-re-ja” in Eleni Ladia’s 2013 archeognnostic study, “Demonology or Discourses on Demons.” Ten years later, the notion of a wind priestess haunting, I delved deep into Minoan life, art, religion, women’s roles, fashion and the intricacies of Linear B. Engaging with scholars, archeologists, linguists, I explored Crete’s Minoan ruins, all to trace the elusive priestess.

Upon my return to California, I designed a book with a concertina binding of 6 folios unfurling to 13 feet. The paper is handmade frag-ile Abaca. The text written in modern Greek is transliterated into Linear B. It is screen printed with a bespoke ink of Fra Angelico Lapis Lazuli pigment from Afghanistan. The deep blue of the ink and accent washi of the slipcase reference the blue of the Knossos palace frescoes. End covers and slipcase are in translucent Enduro Ice film coated with Kozo paper.

“a-ne-mo-i-je-re-ja” is an exploration, a yearning to give form to the intangible, convey emotion and visually render the enigmatic presence of this elusive priestess of the winds. The text in the long-lost dialect of Linear B has beautiful syllabograms, however it is silent and inaccessible. And yet as artist Shirin Salehi (2023) writes “in the space of the illegible, a way of reading, which resists definition, is being discovered, reluctant to be fully deciphered, it remains unknowable, and yet it is open to exploration. Embracing the strangeness instead of rejecting it, allows not to let any message prevail, offering openness.”

Currently, I am completing a companion to this artist book, a sound-scape using my voice, braided and woven readings of the original poetic text in Linear B, modern Greek and English. It can be accessed here.