A contemporary art exhibition at the Hellenic Residence
The Embassy of Greece in London is pleased to present Odyssey – Imaginary Cartographies by Markos Kampanis, an art exhibition at the Hellenic Residence.
The exhibition will be open to the public on weekdays from 26 June to 3 July 2026, 17:00–20:00 (except Thursday 2 July, when it will open 11:00–14:00), in the presence of the artist.
A visual journey through the Odyssey.
A contemporary reimagining of the ancient Greek epic.
It brings together works inspired by Homer’s epic, revisited through the artist’s distinctive visual language. The series unfolds as a painterly voyage through the Odyssey, based on a parallel, imaginary geography conceived by the artist.
At the centre of the exhibition is a four-volume artist’s book created on a digital reproduction of Harley MS 6325 — a 15th-century manuscript of Homer’s Odyssey from the collection of the British Library — painted with charcoal and ink.
As art historian George Mylonas writes in the exhibition brochure:
“Markos Kampanis approaches the journey of the resourceful hero through a geography of his own making. … Different layers of time coexist: the time of myth, the time of interpretation and scholarly hypothesis, and the time of present viewing.”
Almost three millennia after it was written, the ancient Greek epic —often described as “the greatest tale ever told” — remains a foundational work of world literature and one of the most influential texts in global culture.
Across the world, the Homeric epics continue to inspire translations, adaptations, and reinterpretations in literature, theatre, film, visual art and more.
In Greece, the Odyssey, as one of the earliest surviving texts in the Greek language, has played a defining role in shaping literature and cultural imagination for millennia. Themes such as the Greeks’ relationship with the sea and nostos — the return home, and its longing — are deeply rooted in Greek collective memory and cultural identity and continue to resonate today.
As audiences prepare for a new screen adaptation this summer, alongside several recent translations, the enduring appeal of the Odyssey raises timeless questions: why do we keep returning to this story, and why do its characters, themes, and imagery continue to speak to us so powerfully today? Kampanis’s work forms part of this ongoing creative dialogue with the epic.
Markos Kampanis began his engagement with the Odyssey in 2018, developing an ongoing series of works inspired by the Homeric epic. The project draws on classical reception, archaeological interpretation, and the layered history of the text’s transmission.
The works on display present a painterly voyage through the Odyssey, shaped by a parallel, imaginary geography conceived by the artist.
First presented in 2025 at the Ghika Gallery of the Benaki Museum in Athens, the series includes paintings, artist’s books, and map-based works tracing the journeys of Odysseus and Telemachus.
Markos Kampanis was born in Athens in 1955 and studied painting in London. Working across painting, printmaking, illustration, and mural art, he has exhibited widely in Greece and internationally. A major retrospective exhibition of his work was presented in 2023 at the National Library of Greece in Athens. His Odyssey series was exhibited at the Benaki Museum in Athens in 2025.
*Please note: To ensure a full experience, visitors are kindly advised to arrive at least 20 minutes before closing time, as late entry may not be possible.
**Photos of the exhibited works are from the presentation of the exhibition at the Benaki Museum, Athens. © Christos Simatos
