Iakovos Volkov: 2026

Monday, March 16, 2026

in the middle of nowhere...

we have discovered a cool virgin place with no graffiti at all, in the fields of olive trees. It seems someone stayed in one of the buildings recently but we didnt meet anyone. Will visit this place as soon as possible, probably in the following months.

Photos taken with Gopro

Saturday, March 14, 2026

a discovery...

in an area where you wouldn't expect to find a place like this one. Almost not visible from any road. A factory of some kind that is painted with graffiti in few rooms of the entrance. Need to be visited again for sure, hopefully very soon...

Photos taken with a smartphone

about this diary

I started painting graffiti on walls when I was 15 and living in Thessaloniki. Over time, my thoughts about art evolved. I began creating installations in deteriorating areas of the city, mainly in abandoned factories. Since moving to Athens in 2014, I have frequently been invited to participate in gallery and museum exhibitions. For these venues I created sculptures that were site specific, independent freestanding works or pieces that could be installed on a gallery wall.

Primarily I work with discarded things - plastic, clothes, textiles and everyday items are my basic materials nowadays. I see value in things overlooked by others. Flowing from my history as a graffiti artist, I began building word sculptures. More recently I have also explored working abstractly, building objects and installations focused on composition and materials.

I deeply feel one can create meaningful work from small, ordinary things found abandoned on the street. Carefully observing my environment and experimenting with discovered materials, I construct meaning from the discarded, meticulously reconfiguring what society has worn out and broken. I restore life into forgotten places with what I have saved, giving a reason to consider places no longer noticed. For me, this work is essential.