“Xiranthoi, Rooted in Stone: The Herbarium of the Aegean”- An exhibition inspired by the resilient flora of the Aegean opens on Andros

What if a herbarium could preserve not only plants, but also memory, resilience and the stories embedded in a landscape? This is the premise behind “Xiranthoi, Rooted in Stone: The Herbarium of the Aegean,“ the third edition of the Amalia Gardens Residency, culminating in a group exhibition on the island of Andros from 1 to 30 August 2026.

Presented at the Batsi Cultural Centre, the exhibition brings together seven contemporary artists whose works emerge from an immersive residency in Vitali, Andros. Rather than documenting the island’s flora in scientific terms, the participating artists propose a poetic herbarium—one where dried flowers, stone, aromatic plants and traces of human presence become vessels of memory and transformation.

Artists Sergej Andreevski, Alexis Avlamis, Nikos Kaskouras, Chrysa Liarmakopoulou, Satu Metsola, Nikola Pijanmanov and Maria Todeschini spent time exploring Andros’ natural environment, creating new works that reinterpret the idea of a future herbarium through contemporary artistic practice.

Curated by Charis Savvides, the exhibition draws inspiration from the observations of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century European travellers, including Joseph Pitton de Tournefort, Richard Chandler and Edward Dodwell, who described the Greek landscape as both austere and profoundly poetic. Rather than revisiting these accounts through nostalgia, Xiranthoi invites viewers to consider drought, decay and endurance as sources of renewal, suggesting that what appears dry or fragile may in fact contain the potential for new life.

The exhibition forms part of the wider vision of Amalia Gardens, the non-profit cultural organisation founded by architects Charis Savvides and Penny Valsamidou. Located in the secluded landscape of Vitali, the residency was established as a place where artists are given the time and space to observe, reflect and transform memory into artistic creation.