The deeper dive
Helena Papageorgiou started off playing music in bands around Brisbane and went to many many shows. There she started to film live performances and start editing them together. Eventually when bands started asking for music videos she though it would be worth learning more than cross fades to cobble the recordings together.
Haaving always loved animation this seemed like the perfect time to dive in and teach herself animation.
Her main motivation was initially having music as a sort of driver for the visuals and as time went on this expanded to more ways to tell stories. Finding inspiration n the skewed and abstract she took these things and embarked on her swirly whirly path.
An Animator, Art Director and Artist who works in music videos, live visuals as well as using Augmented Reality in her works to form a narrative experience. These animations can appear in various forms from 2d illustrative works, 3D to collage to film and motion design. Helena uses these stylistic mediums to build worlds and where possible immerse the viewer and take them into their own sense of curved realities.
Helena is often Inspired by humour, tilted realities, and observations of the natural world. For her, animation has the ability to create something from scratch and alter people’s perceptions to allow for that suspension of disbelief.
Helena strives to create something that is so close to our reality but weirdly displaced at the same time which unwittingly launches a reinvestigation into these common everyday subjects/objects.
Helena has been using her animation in Augmented Reality to extend the storytelling facet to include new and immersive art. Completing an artist residency with Snap to become an official Lens creator, she then went on to work in conjunction with Google as part of Earth Day 2021. This collaboration resulted in winning the category of “Environmental & Social Good” and received an award at the Snap LensFest in 2021
Additional AR Residencies at the Museum of Brisbane as part of the 'The Storytellers' exhibition only furthered this combination of art forms
Curating the Horizon Festival AR art trail to work with established visual artists and transform their work into interactive motion experiences using Augmented Reality. The works were presented across Nambour, collectively forming an interactive walking trail event.
Helena’s work is constantly building worlds for viewers to experience and possibly reimagine their own current environments.
From the Gallery of NSW, Flinders Quarter Art walks in Melbourne over to the NZ rooftops, West Hollywood murals to Swedish AR Mural Festivals such as ArtScape she has been using her animations to broaden this communication vehicle in AR and create visually superimposed tales.
Awards
Clipped Festival 2019 - Best Animated Video for These Guys – ‘Heaps’
Muzzle Awards 2021 - Best Animated Video for Drake White’s – Hurt is the Healing
Snap Lensfest award 2022 - Best Environmental & Social Good Award for “Bleached Seas”
Exhibitions:
2023 - The Surrogate Vistas - City of Moreton Bay Gallery and Museums
2022 - DesignerCon San Francisco – Prosthetic Reality Book Launch
2022 - Disintegration: Metadrawing and Expanded Drawing, Perc Tucker Regional Gallery
2020 - Sunny Side up Howard Smith Wharves projection
Exhibitions w/AR creation for various Artists
2023 - Internal/External a group public art installation
2023 – Lincoln Centre – Dance Archive Installation on Julliard campus, NY
2023 - Joy Generator Nixi Killick Installation – Melbourne Immigration Museum
2022 - Nature Illuminated -Chinese Garden, Darling Harbour
2022 - Nyiyaparli Flora Book Enhancing cultural heritage with AR
2022 - InDigiMatha Immersive Lab
2021 - Enchanted Tropic, World Science Festival Curiocity installation
2021 - Aku Dreams Book Cover
2021 - Flinders Quarter Art Walk
2020 - Artscape Form, Swedish AR Mural Festival
2020 - Westfield Newmarket Rooftop mural
2020 - Giant Water AR treasure hunt, Townsville Anderson Gardens
2019 - InPlace Art Trail, Nambour Horizon Festival
Lectures, Workshops and Panels
2018 - Workshops at BigSound for Projection Mapping for Visual Artists
2019 - InPlace Exhibition - Panel member discussing how art and tech collide, Nambour
2019 - Artists workshops as part of the InPlace event to create Augmented Reality
2019 - Lecture at Queensland University of Technology for Animation students
2019 - Immerse Conference Jam Day – workshops and Talks
2020 - Noosa Create Masterclass over 2 days
2020 - Brisbane City Council Augmented Reality workshops for artist over 2 days as part of the
“Sunnyside Up” exhibition.
2021 - Workshops for Townsville City Council artists to create Augmented Reality Murals
2022 - Judging Panel for Immerse High for Immersive VR and AR Storytelling
2024 - Camp MoGraph workshops over 2 days demonstrating the use of AR and its possibilities for
professional Motion Designers
Artist Residencies
Museum of Brisbane Artists in Residence with Kellie O’Dempsey
Snapchat - Storytelling Residency Program Snap engaged me to participate in a 2 month program to
develop Lenses which illustrated storytelling through AR