In 2020, amid the lockdown of the pandemic, I was introduced to Maria Antelman through our friend Roger Buttles. At the time, Maria was living in Greece, and I was hiding out in Los Angeles. What began as a series of virtual studio visits became a friendship across several times zones and an unexpected salve in isolation. We discussed technology, religion, gender, sex, and ecology. Maria is one of those rare people who has an encyclopedic knowledge of various subjects but is also remarkably open and intuitive. She is as fascinated by science as she is by those things that can’t be known. It shows in her work, which marries and often animates images of her family and body, Greco-Roman sculpture, and the landscape of her native Greece in beautiful, enigmatic objects that exist at the intersection of sculpture, still, and moving image. The year I met her, Maria’s work was included in New Photography: Companion Pieces at the Museum of Modern Art. In the time since, our conversation has continued to evolve. Roger, who connected us in the first place, opened a gallery in Concord, New Hampshire, called Outer Space, where we currently have a two-person show.

—Mark Armijo McKnight

Mark Armijo McKnight Maria! Thank you for doing this.

Maria Antelman Thank you, Mark! I am very happy we are showing our works together. Your images impress me deeply. They bring up raw emotions of intimacy, tenderness, and violence. Our conversations have opened up new paths in my work.

MAM Whenever we get together, I’m struck by how intuitive you are; but I also think of you as a very cerebral artist. I think this is a rare combination of personality traits that clearly informs your work. Maybe you can talk about this paradox? Which parts of you is the work coming from?

MA I recently found out about a traditional Chinese medicine energy form called Jing. Jing is your essence, your vital force inherited from your parents at the moment of your conception. It stays with you until you pass away. Jing is a manifestation of the feeling your creators had the moment they mixed their reproductive juices.

MAM (laughter) Yes. This also sounds like classical Greek mythology, which is so central to your work. 

MA Growing up in Greece, something always pulled me to the ancient site of the Oracle of Delphi, the center of the ancient world. For years, I used to visit regularly and always stay in the same hotel, which overlooked the most beautiful, ancient olive grove. I always felt a special, regenerative, healing power there. One summer I brought my mother, who hadn’t been to Delphi in years. Upon our arrival, she exclaimed, “Maria, you were conceived here!”

MAM That is incredible!

MA Yes, in our show there is a piece titled Jing (2023), which is a photomontage self-portrait. The photograph was made in New York City. Inside my womb is the image of a prehistoric Mediterranean cave. My Jing perhaps carries this level of intuition that finds its own conception site. Biology is memory. To your question, Where does this work come from? I think it is a set of coordinates located somewhere between the gut and the brain, probably the hypothalamus, which is the body’s smart control center. First one feels, and then thinks. They are different processes.