Venue

KALFAYAN GALLERIES | ATHENS

11 Haritos Street
106 75 Kolonaki
Athens 

The group show titled ‘Optimism, Despite Everything’ with works by: Etel Adnan, Alexis Akrithakis, Sister Corita, Salvador Dalí, Farida El Gazzar, Dorothy Iannone, Giorgos Ioannou, Konstantin Kakanias, Vlassis Caniaris, Karolina Krasouli, Dimitris Neveskiotis, Panos Tsagaris and Raed Yassin. The opening of the exhibition will take place on Thursday, 30 April 2026, from 18:00 to 20.00.

In an era where uncertainty, global crises and constant changes shape our daily lives, the concept of optimism takes on a new, more complex dimension. The exhibition ‘Optimism, Despite Everything’ proposes a creative reading of the optimistic gaze — not as blind belief in positivity, but as an attitude that insists on finding meaning, humor and poetry even within contradictions. Through the artworks in the exhibition which move between lyricism, surrealism and humor, optimism emerges as a creative and profoundly human act of resistance.

Through diverse voices and artistic languages, the exhibition expresses the belief that optimism is not naivety, but a conscious choice: to hope, to reimagine a better world, even when everything seems to be falling apart. The exhibition ‘Optimism, Despite Everything’ is not a denial of reality. On the contrary, it aspires to function like an open window in a room full of dust. The sun enters; it does not remove the dust, but reminds us that there is always light in the darkness, and as long as one can see…. the dust can always be brushed away.