Meiko Elektra Georgouras

Born in Sydney, Australia

Lives & works in Sydney

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Like the journalist Jean-Dominique Bauby, who wrote “The Diving Bell and the Butterfly” (1997), Meiko Georgouras suffered a massive brain injury a few years ago which left her physically paralyzed, unable to speak but mentally aware of her surroundings. She found the ability to paint with her eyes and it has led to a unique and evocative style that emphasizes her view of the mind rather than the outside world. In this way she can explore ideals, such as beauty, independent of the sensory realm.

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Georgouras paints with an eye-gaze device. This is an eye-operated communication and control system that empowers people with profound disabilities to interact with the world. The device tracks eye movement to enable hands-free operation. Her device uses the Microsoft app Fresh Paint to simulate oil and watercolor paintings on a digital medium. This

app was developed in conjunction with The Museum of Modern Art. The paintings are then printed onto archival-quality canvas or paper using an Eco-Solvent printer to ensure quality and durability.

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Georgouras’ works are Platonic abstractions in that they use the experience of the mind to convey a world of ideas and forms that is separate from the world of sensual experience. The method of using her eyes allows her to create unique imagery where color and line become mind maps that transmit a larger cosmos. This is a place where color and line have an independence from objects. It reflects her training as a designer at the UNSW College of Fine Arts and the importance of the Bauhaus Movement, especially the work of Wassily Kandinsky, who studied the correspondence of form, color and music.

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