“Small temples” built on the side of the road
on the mountain near the cliff,
testimony of pain and mourning,
sometimes gratitude.
In backyards, vows and patrons.
By the sea, tributes to Ai Nikolas.
Some built with passion, made by an experienced craftsman.
Bright and white from lime,
with the door bright blue or red to stand out.
Others to balance suspended with difficulty, on a thin iron or stone pole.
Eaten by the wind, rusty by the rain.
On the side of the road,
with the gaze passing them.
Through their broken glass emerge photos of saints and people, consolation.
Some forgotten by people
and others to be accompanied by a flower… let it be plastic.
The lit candle visit sign,
frequent presence so that forgetfulness does not win.
Do not let darkness overcome, as Aunt Katina used to say.
The iconostasis withstand the time since then…. stopped.
Memory is what keeps them, in a peculiar and primitive relationship between space and death… .as a totem.
But also respect for a “built” human pain!
Iconostasis,
small “temples – shrines”,
on the edge of the street,
in the yards of houses,
in inaccessible mountains.
In a big city or village.
They mark the Greece of yesterday and today.
Remaining experiences and habits,
made by soul.
About Antonis Giakoumakis
I was born and raised in Chania Crete. Now i am resident of Chalandri, Attica. Photography is for me all the things that I do not want to forget in the moment I see them, in the space where I am found, I move, I listen and I observe. It cannot be objective, but it can be a constant reminder that the world is not what we see. It is creation, communication, a narrative.
In other words, it is the representation of a truth, a fact that you are aware of at the moment of the click. Your reality which you feel the need to share. A reality which can be different for someone else. I like to create stories, like a storyteller of photographs (finding the appropriate point of view), for according to Ansel Adams, “You don’t make a photograph just with a camera. Υou bring to the act of photography all the pictures you have seen, the books you have read, the music you have heard, the people you have loved.”
I often think that if I had the gift of writing a poem or a fairytale, a story in general, then I would be unlikely to photograph. I love to share what I see and perceive, with the expectation of acceptance or even better comprehension. I consider that an important element of photography is the feeling, the narrative and not its technique.
I am not identified to a certain type of a photography and I do not believe in photographic discriminations… in categorisations. The power of a photograph is to “embody-render” all the “categories”.
The categorisation – label is necessary for… commercial reasons.
I want to observe people… from a distance, because I believe that by distancing myself, I become objective, free. So sometimes towards things, situations, people, alone with one’s self… keeping a distance. On other occasions, nearby … to talk, conspire, disagree.
You can find Antonis Giakoumakis on the Web :
Copyrights:
All the pictures in this post are copyrighted to Antonis Giakoumakis. Their reproduction, even in part, is forbidden without the explicit approval of the rightful owners.
