Sophia’s safe space is her room, with her three cats.

The photo shoot took place at her house. We sat down, chatting, until her cats got used to me and my camera.

“Gender-based violence shows its signs before it fully manifests. If we listen carefully to our bodies, we can appreciate when our psychological, emotional or physical safety is under attack, the value of which we often overlook or have trouble expressing, especially as teenagers or young women. Proper information can help us recognize these signs.” - Marilena Grispou

In a series of 50 photographs, Marilena Grispou’s exhibition titled “SAFE SPACE” explores, in the most astute way, the key concepts of women’s psychological, emotional and physical safety in this day and age. Based on her personal experience of losing her “safe space,” Grispou captures the search and renegotiation of this feeling through 25 photographic portraits of women that reflect their relationship to both their inner and outer world. This photographic project calls upon the public to contemplate their own relationship with safety and the factors that may threaten or reinforce it: What is the definition of safety? What experiences deprive us of it? And how can we reclaim it? The exhibition “SAFE SPACE” urges us to wonder, ponder and act towards ensuring a physical and mental space, in which people feel protected, free and strong.

Marilena Grispou | Short Bio
Marilena Grispou is a photographer based in Athens. She studied Photography at the University of Central Lancashire in the UK, and continued her education at the Leica Academy of Creative Photography in Athens. With further studies in Film and Photography, she has developed a diverse artistic work that includes educational activities as well as participation in festivals and social projects. Her work focuses on narrative photography, or weaving stories through images, utilizing both analog and digital photography, as well as state-of-the-art post-production techniques.

SNFCC Lead Donor: Stavros Niarchos Foundation (SNF)

WOW Athens 2025 Major Sponsor: Uber

The WOW Athens 2025 festival is co-funded by the European Union through the Program “Attica” 2021–2027.

Photographs: Marilena Grispou