HOMO, MARE, TERRAE

ANTONIS GIAKOUMAKIS

// Antonis is from Chania, Crete and now lives in Chalandri, Attica. He uses his camera to tell stories about life and art. An active member of the Greek phtography group Photopia, he is intensively involved in photography. We are pleased to feature his Trilogy series entitled “Homo, Mare, Terrae” (Human, Sea, Land).

Antonis has been involved in photography (systematically) since 2012, although before he was, as he says, “absorbed” by it for 37 years. He has participated in several group exhibitions and competitions with distinction. Despite his long involvement in photography he says he is still learning.

“Photography is for me everything that I do not want to forget in the moment I see it, in the space where I find myself. I move, I listen and I observe. It may not be objective, but it can be a constant reminder that the world is not what we see,” he says. “It’s creation, communication, storytelling. In other words, it is this indefinable and unclear and leads us to a personal approach to what we see, read or hear and try to analyze it without always succeeding! I like to create stories, like a storyteller of photographs (finding the appropriate point of view).” He gave us a quote by Ansel Adams (see below) to explain this.

“With photography I share what I see and perceive, with the expectation of comprehension. I do not photograph with goals and intentions. I am not thinking of a concept in advance. I am interested in creating an atmosphere of a spark through its frame or a part of it, which may manage to urge the viewer to create their own narratives. To take us on trips that we did not expect to go,” he adds.

Antonis does not think of himself as a particular type of photographer, he does not believe in photographic discriminations, in categorizations. The power of a photograph is to “embody-render” all the “categories”.

What draws you to the arts?

“People enjoy looking at, watching, and experiencing art maybe because sometimes people prefer to express themselves through art (artistically) rather than just telling other people what they are feeling and thinking in a more straightforward and less symbolic way; But i think that there is no specific answer to this question, nobody really knows why. I am represented by Pablo Picasso’s saying that…’The purpose of art is to wash the dust of daily life off our souls.’…”

What do you like best about this project?

“The photographic depiction in one unit of three main elements of my photographic search and expression that are Human (form), Sea (water) and Land (earth and trees). Homo, Mare, Terrae!“

“So I was there and I discovered in the faces of those people … soul, “), where a portion of the proceeds from photo sales was donated to underprivileged fellow human beings. Some of the community involved gave a performance at the exhibition opening together with other artists.

About his series “Homo, Mare, Terrae”, Antonis says, quoting André Kertész, ‘Everything is a subject. Every subject has a rhythm. Feeling is the reason for being. The photograph is an unchanging moment of such a reason of existence, which continues to live within it.’ I believe that every photographer has a subject or several that trouble him and lead him to capture moments and images. At first it may not be fully conscious but in the process, it becomes. The subject is therefore the starting point of the photographic process.

In the photographs there are interrelated thematic elements, which mutually influence one another, and that become distinct over the course of the photographic years. The dominant element of my photography is the person, who is ultimately also the starting point of the subjects I photograph.”

“I observe them and record them in the environment, in their space, in conditions that they shaped or were shaped for them (an element that I try to elicit). Homo, Mare, Terrae. Three themes, three references, three approaches possibly with different form, composition and varying elements or content between them. But by the same approach, I mean aesthetic, conceptual and not necessarily of technique or homogeneity. Three main elements of my photographic search and expression are Human (form), Sea (water) and Land (earth and trees). A photographic trilogy that was created “on the way”, unintentionally, “tying” photos from scattered “clicks” through time in different personal moments, in unexpected spaces – places. Along the way, the necessary coherence was found between them due to my own inner thoughts, situations, emotional processes but also searches in order to conceptually make …”stories”, producing a conscious semiology. As I often emphasize, because I believe so, if… through the combination of these frames an atmosphere creates a spark, maybe then it will prompt the viewer to make their own narratives. To take them on a journey… as they would not have expected! I consider photography to be the art of perception as a result of a “representation” of unpredictable moments. Anyway, human life is full of images, events that are registered in our memory like photographs.”

Antonis is opening a new exhibition soon in Chalandri, starting 27 May 2023. If you find yourself in the area, it would really be worth checking it out. See the details in the invitation below.

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Images may be cropped for layout. Click on the photos to see a larger version.

ALL PHOTOS © ANTONIS GIAKOUMAKIS

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You could also visit Antonis´ Instagram page and his website for more of his work.

We have previously featured Antonis’ work with two other series in Spectaculum Magazine.