Another Greece from above
Vassilis Ververidis: Tourists swim in the natural pool Giola, Thassos, Northern Greece, July 2019.
With the exception of the snowy Acropolis that shone white in January this year and of course the White Tower in the afternoon light of Thessaloniki, the other 13 aerial photographs of the open-air exhibition at the fencing of the Athens Concert Hall make passers-by stand still. And to wonder what is the place depicted in the shot, because it looks like they are seeing it for the first time. And yet, it is Greece.
“I saw this surprise happen”, says the photographer, artistic director of the Athens Photo World event, Thanassis Stavrakis, commenting on the reactions of the first spectators, as the photo exhibition “Flying from the country” has just started. The images are really impressive and the shots from above, with a drone, highlight the beauties of the country. Many heads are turned for a second look, even by the passengers of the passing buses, since the prints have dimensions of 1 by 1.5 meters and cover the entire perimeter of the Megaron.
“We chose monothematic and ‘clean’ images,” says the artistic director, Thanassis Stavrakis.
It is the second time that the photo with Greek themes “wraps” the Megaron – the first in 2021 -, and this year the floor was given to active photojournalists “rightfully, since they were the first to work with a drone”, explains Mr. Stavrakis, while two amateur photographers are also involved. “We have selected and presented images with photographic interest, monothematic and” clean “, so that the viewer can get to know Greek places from different angles of view than their usual view, while recording in a creative way the four seasons of the year in Greece.”
Finally the images project a landscape to explore for anyone who wants to locate the part depicted in the frame. This is the interest of this photographic journey to places of recognition and not especially now that – after two years of confinement – the restriction at home and in our city is tired. Our gaze justifiably seeks to escape, and to rise high. With the help of technology and the exceptional technical quality provided by digital media, these artistic “flights” succeed on the one hand to take a modern look at the Greek landscape and on the other hand to renew the photographic landscape. After all, as objective as the recording is, the subjectivity of the creator’s gaze behind the photographic lens is what reveals the power of the landscape.
The photographs hosted in the exhibition come from the work of: Vassilis Ververidis, Marilenas Karatza, Dimitris Melenikiotis, Vangelis Bougiotis, Antonis Nikolopoulos, Giannis Spyrounis, Nikos Chalkiopoulos and Thomas Chrysochoidis. The 15 photos that refer to the whole summer of 2022 in the fencing of the Megaron. In the fall, as every year, the APW will donate to schools in Greece.