Name of Family Member
Maria Papaioannou (née Blizioti)

Artist Statement
"My maternal grandmother fled burning Smyrna as a young woman in 1922, during the Asia Minor Catastrophe. She lost a prosperous home in a cosmopolitan city and arrived in Greece to compatriots who were not very welcoming. She married and had seven children, of whom five survived into adulthood. Later in life she lived at different times with different children, including with my parents and me in the New York area. She said little to me about her experiences, and yet, being a sensitive type, I intuited a great deal. She was a true stoic in the years I knew her.

As to the sculpture The Refugee, I sought to convey her emotions around September 1922 when she was escaping her burning home and was arriving in Piraeus, the port city of Athens. I sought to convey shock as she experiences the pain and extreme loss—she does so quietly, with dignity.

The Hellenic Head you see in the exhibition was enlarged and adapted into a monumental public sculpture to mark the centennial of the destruction of Smyrna. Refugee—Woman of Smyrna was unveiled in September 2022, in an Athenian neighborhood shaped by refugee history. Viewers have told me they see their own grandmothers in her face. I can think of no higher compliment."

History & Setting
1920s — Smyrna to Piraeus: catastrophe ends a world; in an unwelcoming refuge, she rebuilds the lineage with dignity and courage.

Global Value Alignment
Migration Dignity: Humanizing the face of displacement.

Sculpture Completion
2024 (Version III)

Material
Mixed media (body 3D-printed using PETG from medical packaging waste on to which is epoxy clay, ground metal with resin/catalyst, pigments and acids are applied)

Dimensions
82 cm (h) x 55 cm (d)