Feature: BRI opens window for Greece, the world: painter

Greek painter Barbara Gerodimou works at her studio in Marathon, Greece, on Aug. 8, 2023. A decade after the launch of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Greek painter Barbara Gerodimou, in her colorful studio in the seaside town of Marathon near Athens, said she was breathing in the fresh air through the window that the project opened for Greece and the world. (Photo by Angelos Tsatsis/Xinhua)

ATHENS, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- A decade after the launch of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Greek painter Barbara Gerodimou, in her colorful studio in the seaside town of Marathon near Athens, said she was breathing in the fresh air through the window that the project opened for Greece and the world.

"If this (initiative) did not exist, we should really be looking for something like this. This is the right time. It is something that should materialize," she said.

For Gerodimou, as well as for billions of people around the world, building bridges and bringing peoples closer together through major infrastructure projects that support common development and prosperity, through trade and cultural exchanges, is the only way forward to foster understanding and cooperation.

"I think that this (initiative) plays perhaps the biggest role in (promoting) peace, world peace, because it is a base. It lays the foundations," she said.

Greece's largest port, Piraeus, plays a key role in the BRI thanks to its geostrategic position and has become a symbol of win-win cooperation.

The harbor has been transformed dramatically in the past years since China's COSCO Shipping invested there and Chinese people and Greeks joined forces to modernize and upgrade it. The project has benefited significantly the local economy and society, which suffered greatly during the acute debt crisis between 2009 and 2018.

"I feel like something is changing. I mean, as if there is a window that was closed and suddenly opened. This gives me hope and I say 'yes, okay, let's go over there, this way'," she said commenting on the Piraeus port project and BRI overall.

As an artist, she feels that in the future BRI will further facilitate communication and make it easier for her and her colleagues to exchange views and showcase their work in faraway countries.

Gerodimou has exhibited her art beyond Greece's borders, even in China. She participated in the Beijing Biennale four times (2008, 2010, 2015, 2019).

The artist, who studies Chinese art and admires Chinese culture, is happy about the blossoming dialogue in recent years between China and Greece, two countries with ancient and rich civilizations.

In her latest work, Gerodimou depicted on canvas this dialogue between China and Greece, Asia and Europe, the East and the West, in the framework of the BRI, the modern Silk Road.

A Chinese girl (the model is the 9-year-old daughter of her Chinese friend and student), who symbolizes the Chinese-led initiative, invites the viewers to look into the future where Piraeus port will play a leading role.

"Piraeus port will be like a gate, a passage, to a city that will host peoples from many countries," she explained. Piraeus and the city will be revealed once light will be switched on, as Gerodimou is applying a technique she has used in several of her works in recent years. She also used golden details and silk for this painting.

The Polish-born Greek artist, who fell in love with painting at age four, hopes that her new artwork inspired by the BRI will trigger dialogue with and among her audience.

The message she would like to convey to the world is to work together and focus on what unites people. She feels that this is the spirit of the BRI.

"I would like us to focus on the good, on unity among all people on Earth, and not on what divides us," she said.

Greek painter Barbara Gerodimou works at her studio in Marathon, Greece, on Aug. 8, 2023. A decade after the launch of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Greek painter Barbara Gerodimou, in her colorful studio in the seaside town of Marathon near Athens, said she was breathing in the fresh air through the window that the project opened for Greece and the world. (Photo by Angelos Tsatsis/Xinhua)

Greek painter Barbara Gerodimou works at her studio in Marathon, Greece, on Aug. 8, 2023. A decade after the launch of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Greek painter Barbara Gerodimou, in her colorful studio in the seaside town of Marathon near Athens, said she was breathing in the fresh air through the window that the project opened for Greece and the world. (Photo by Angelos Tsatsis/Xinhua)

Greek painter Barbara Gerodimou works at her studio in Marathon, Greece, on Aug. 8, 2023. A decade after the launch of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), Greek painter Barbara Gerodimou, in her colorful studio in the seaside town of Marathon near Athens, said she was breathing in the fresh air through the window that the project opened for Greece and the world. (Photo by Angelos Tsatsis/Xinhua)