Zoë Paul is a

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

-born,

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

-based artist raised by South African parents. She combines traditional techniques with products of industrial waste to examine community, craft and domestic spaces.

Early life and education

Zoë Paul's parents came to

Greece Greece, officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. Located on the southern tip of the Balkan peninsula, it shares land borders with Albania to the northwest, North Macedonia and Bulgaria to the north, and Turkey to th ...

from

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

during the

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

era. Paul was born in 1987 and grew up in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

and Greece, on an island of

Kythira Kythira ( ; ), also transliterated as Cythera, Kythera and Kithira, is an island in Greece lying opposite the south-eastern tip of the Peloponnese peninsula. It is traditionally listed as one of the seven main Ionian Islands, although it is dist ...

. Due to her family's limited resources at the time, Paul learned how to work with various materials at an early age. She studied

sculpture Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

Camberwell College of Arts Camberwell College of Arts is a constituent college of the University of the Arts London, a public art and design university in London, England. The college offers further and higher education programmes, including postgraduate and PhD awards. ...

, where she received her BA, and at

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public university, public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City, London, White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design uni ...

, where she earned her MA.

Work and career

Paul uses sculpture, drawing, and textile to explore domestic spaces. Her work is particularly inspired by blurred lines between the interior and the exterior. As Paul is a trained sculptor, her art has also been influenced by

Classical Greek sculpture Classical Greek sculpture has long been regarded as the highest point in the development of Ancient Greek sculpture. Classical Greece covers only a short period in the history of Ancient Greece, but one of remarkable achievement in several field ...

Exhibitions

Paul's solo exhibition ''Solitude and Village'' blended the divine with the domestic, featuring disembodied clay heads, frescoes of giant nudes, and sculptures inspired by Modern Primitivism. The show incorporated weavings made from discarded materials and abstract compositions resembling religious icons. Ethereal screens depicted archetypal female figures, highlighting themes of fertility and emotional power. The exhibition explored the intersection of sacred and everyday life, the tension between feminine and masculine, and the relationship between solitude and community, ultimately reflecting on the loss of communal connections due to industrialization. Her solo exhibition ''La Perma-Perla Kraal Emporium'', which explores hospitality and community, has been hosted at The Breeder gallery in Athens and at the

Spike Island Artspace Spike Island Artspace is an arts centre and art studio complex in Bristol, England. It occupies a former Brooke Bond tea packing factory in the Spike Island neighbourhood. It is a place for the production and exhibition of contemporary art an ...

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, UK. A distinctive feature of this exhibition was a long table where Paul invited visitors to join her at rolling clay beads while drinking sage tea. The clay beads were also used to create bead curtains, which were part of Paul's exhibition and are a recurring theme throughout her art. Her work is described as transforming the gallery into an intimate, temple-like space, showcasing ceramic and textile works that evoke ancient relics. Her collaboration with a British painter Faye Wei Wei, exhibition ''Marzanna, Yours Again'' was hosted at Hot Wheels Projects in Athens. This exhibition was inspired by

Eastern Europe Eastern Europe is a subregion of the Europe, European continent. As a largely ambiguous term, it has a wide range of geopolitical, geographical, ethnic, cultural and socio-economic connotations. Its eastern boundary is marked by the Ural Mountain ...

an mythology and folkloric rituals of making dolls to invite the arrival of spring. Paul's work has also been included in the ''Unorthodox'' exhibition at the

Jewish Museum (Manhattan) The Jewish Museum is an art museum housed at 1109 Fifth Avenue, in the Felix M. Warburg House, along the Museum Mile on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, New York City. The museum holds a collection of approximately 30,000 objects, including ...

and in ''The Equilibrists'' exhibition at the

Benaki Museum The Benaki Museum, established and endowed in 1930 by Antonis Benakis in memory of his father Emmanuel Benakis, is housed in the Benakis family mansion in Athens, Greece. The museum houses Greek works of art from the prehistorical to the modern ...

in Athens.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paul, Zoë Alumni of the Royal College of Art 21st-century South African painters 21st-century South African sculptors 1987 births Living people Alumni of Camberwell College of Arts South African emigrants to Greece People from Kythira Artists from Athens 21st-century South African women painters 21st-century South African women sculptors