Tag: Attica

The International Contemporary Art Fair “21st Art Athina” kicked off on the 26th of May and ended on the 29th. The fair is an annual event and every year, it is a little bit more successful than the last. It was organized for the first time by the Hellenic Art Galleries Association in 1993 and since then it has been steadily helping contemporary art gain more fans in Greece.

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The indignant Greeks of Syntagma square in Athens are divided into two categories. The only relationship between them is their opposition to the Memorandum's economic policy and the unsound Greek political system. The first and the most multitudinous group are being gathered at the upper frieze in front of the parliament's building and the second one at the lower space of the square.

In Perama, Piraeus, lies a degraded shipbuilding zone, home to a couple thousand workers. Their job is hard and perilous and as a result lives have been lost. The trade unions of the area are very powerful and they don't allow the slightest violation of labour legislation by the employers' side. They would rather starve to death than lose the rights they obtained after sacrifices. The shipbuilding zone of Perama is interesting only to photographers -a “grey” place of sunken faces and half-sunken hulls dying in the filthy waters.

"I went to Theotokos (Mother of God) school for mentally challenged children. That's where I finished primary school and took some bookbinding courses. I also learned how to be consistent in my work and cooperate well with my colleagues. After that, I worked in a state institution library as an intern and they permanently hired me as an employee. Since then I have always had the people from Theotokos school by my side. These people help me solve the problems I have at work, but also in my personal life. I would like to tell you how much my life has changed since I started working. I have my own money and I am able to choose what I'm going to use it for. I have my friends and I see them when I have some spare time. I do things and I live like everyone else. I am thankful for the opportunity I was given to get a job. This way I managed to prove that I can make it".

"Was it not for the protection of our trade unions, we would have surely died. Our job has nothing to do with being a civil servant. We dislike unions, like ADEDY, which opened their doors to the corrupt political parties and allowed them to destroy the labor movement".

“I woke up one morning and found a small camera next to my pillow, a gift from my uncle who was a photographer. I immediately went out and took photos of the neighbourhood. I remembered that film is light-sensitive, so I entered a closet and unfolded it, thinking that this way I will get to see the pictures. But I wasn’t able to see in the dark so I opened the closet's door a little, but still I couldn’t make them out. Completely disappointed, I headed to the neighbourhood photographer, in Heraklion of Crete. I showed him the unfolded film but instead of photos he 'treated' me to a rude gesture. He teased me relentlessly for years, even more so when I became a known photographer”.

"Since I was a child, olive trees used to remind me of ancient crowns. It was a long time untyil 2004, when on the occasion of the Olympic Games, the Academy of Athens asked me to make two wedding wreaths out of olive branches. They wanted to expose them in the "In Praise of the Olive" exhibition which connected the olive tree to birth, marriage and death".

"A man once came to rent our store and told us: I'm going to make it into a café, it will be modern, I'll even put some marble. I'm going to rent it for two million drachmas. But we didn't accept. We have owned the store since 1947 and we are emotionally attached to it. Besides, if we left it what would we do to pass the time?"

"One of the many reasons why I love Greece is the sea. It's a pity that my motherland Armenia doesn't have seas. I enjoy fishing on Sundays; it's more like a hobby to me. I don't see why I should stay at home. When I do it, I find myself running errands for the women."

"The nicest feeling for me is to travel alone in the morning, because that's when I can get away from my problems. It is wonderful for me to see the lighthouses and estimate the place where I am standing. Every lighthouse blinks in its own way, each one unique. Even though I have a GPS I don't use it, I prefer finding my way by trial and error. At nights I look at the sky, I see the Southern Cross and orient myself".

"I never accepted any payment for my work from a journal or any other printed material. It is unthinkable for me to get paid for writing about Theodoros Kolokotronis”. Nick Papageorgiou spent 30 consecutive years writing about incidents from Kolokotronis's life in the local newspaper "Gortynia". Papageorgiou, a self-taught historian and journalist has written 1,200 short stories about the so called ‘Old Man of the Morea’ to date.

"I used to think I would never stop playing football. Even as a player for Panathinaikos I used to play in the streets every morning and in the championship court in the evenings. My mind used to get more tired than my feet did. I had to be skilful, pass to Antoniadis, and avoid the strikes. When I returned home after the match I had to be left alone for about an hour, so that my mind could get some rest".

"Some time ago I was introduced to a 70year-old woman. When she held my hand she said: What is this ring that you're wearing? I like it very much. Would you wear a ring like that? I asked her. Definitely yes, she answered. Old women usually wear brilliants and golden jewels, but she had a strong personality and was attracted by the titanium ring".

"The priest in my village, Plikati of Ioannina, used to paint icons. I made a Virgin Mary with his help, which I later showed to my hagiography teacher Nikos Stratoulis, in Athens. When he saw it he asked me: What do you want to be, a painter or a hagiographer? I was confused; I didn't know what to answer. What if he didn’t like my answer and told me to take a hike? I told him that I wanted to become a hagiographer in order to please him. He looked at me with a satisfied look and told me: Come again on Monday and wear some old trousers, so you don’t get dirty on the scaffold. Who knows where I would be now, if I had told him I want to be a painter".

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