The Worn-Out Dancing Shoes

The book “The worn-out dancing shoes” has been published on the occasion of the artist’s exhibition at the Zoumboulakis gallery in May 2025. Ralli firmly believes that a child’s favourite fairy tale reveals something about his/her psyche. Her own favourite fairy tale was “The Twelve Dancing Princesses” by the Brothers Grimm. However, ever since childhood, she has resisted—and continues to resist—the story’s ending, which she perceives as reinforcing the disciplining of independent will, the imposition of authority, and ultimately, punishment.

She, then, frees herself from the conventional depiction of the human body—which she has thoroughly explored in the past—and seeks new forms: genderless, colourful, with multicultural characteristics that swirl within the two-dimensional space of paper and ultimately detach and expand into the surrounding space.

She then invited four writers —Cécile Inglessis Margellos, Lenia Safiropoulou, Maria Kaliabetsou, and Christos Sakellaridis— to rewrite the tale with a different ending. At the same time, Ralli asked Astrinos Karagiorgakis to compose original music for the artworks, which has been playing throughout the exhibition.

The installation featuring 24 pairs of handmade knitted women’s shoes, crafted from wire, fabric and thread, 12 painted couples (diptych tempera on paper) and 72 smaller paintings symbolizes free will and self-determination, as well as the artist’s freedom to express herself through any medium.

Texts: Lenia Zafeiropoulou, Cecil Iglesi Margellou, Maria Kaliampetsou, Astrinos Karagiorgakis, Eleni Kyprou, Ioanna Ralli, Christos Sakellaridis
Design: Studio Lialios Vazoura

Size: 170×240 mm
Pages: 408 pages
Format: Soft cover
Language: Greek
Edition: 400 copies

2025

ISBN: 978-618-5204-17-4