Feature: Refugee drama in Aegean Sea depicted in Greek art exhibition

The plight of refugees crossing and sometimes losing their lives in the Aegean Sea became inspiration for the renowned Greek painter Maria Giannakaki and her exhibition titled "Mare Monstrum."

The art project of 19 paintings, under the auspices of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), depicts the tragedy of a painful reality unfolding in Greece.

The refugee flow towards Europe has reached more than one million people with a total of 3,735 missing or believed drowned in 2015.

On average, two children have drowned every day since September 2015 as recently reported by UNHCR, UNICEF and the International Organization for Migration.

The Greek artist used her art, her "raft" as she said, to depict the emblematic image of the refugees in the boats floating at the mercy of the water between Turkey and Greece last summer.

Paintings with tormented figures on seas in Prussian blue and transparent images of children turning towards the sky embody in a unique way the drama of the refugees.

Giannakaki was inspired by Gericault's work "The Raft of the Medusa" in the 19th century, which depicts also a shipwreck of migrants near the coast of Senegal in 1816.

"The agony of life and death, the hope for rescue and fear of abandonment are feelings that do not change no matter how many years go by," she said.

With post graduate studies in traditional Chinese painting, ink drawing and calligraphy at the Hangzhou Academy of Fine Arts in China, Giannakaki chose rice paper, silk, inks and watercolor mounted on canvas as materials for her paintings.

"These techniques help you to be more accurate and fast even in the procedure of the execution and in the final result. As an art, traditional Chinese painting is more abstract. Through the years, it has helped me to develop my own paths," she said.

With her artistic venture she attempts to send a positive message and raise awareness to the public, as she believes that this is the painter's role. Not to guide, but to educate.

"Under such circumstances, refugees have as a sole raft their life and their hope," she said.

The art project runs until April 4 in Athens and will be displayed in Brussels in November. Endit