How did your interest in photography emerge? Do you remember your first camera?
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I studied at the Department of Fine Arts and Art Sciences at the University of Ioannina. My first digital camera was a Canon 1000D. My first analog that I am still using sometimes was my parents back in the 80's - Ricoh FF-3AF.
How did you develop your style, and how important is film as a photographic medium to you?
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I was more into painting back then, photography for me was my diary. I always had my analog with me in my everyday life and I was shooting almost every moment. I tried to follow some basic frame rules and correct myself throughout time.
I like to create and then I give it to the stage.
There is an intriguing anonymity to much of your work - your subjects appear from behind, or more often only as hands or arms, entering spaces as the limb alone rather than as an extension of the human. If faces are present, they are often masked with face paint - could you talk a little about the tension in your work between the seen and the unseen?
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I am working as an assistant set and costume designer in theatres meaning I am always behind the stage. I don't really like to show myself off, I am a discreet figure, I like to create and then I give it to the stage. This kind of passed onto my work. Hands for me has always been the most beautiful part of the human body, they have the ability to simultaneously create and destroy. Regarding my portraits with the same face painting, it is an alteration of identity and the influence of a theatrical aesthetic that I wanted to recreate in my work.
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In a similar vein, many of your photos are void of people altogether, even in very human, urban environments. There is evidence of life - a fork, a door left ajar, a rose left on the seats of an auditorium - there is mystery, and a kind of melancholy. Is this how you see your work? How do you think about place and the presence and absence of the human in your photographs?
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As I mentioned before I was working a lot with the approach of a photo diary. I was always afraid the passing of time and that I will not remember these moments.
In terms of the creative process, what is the balance for you between set-up and spontaneity? Are you more likely to plan out a shoot or experiment and work through ideas as you go along?
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This depends on the project that I have in mind. For example the project "Yad" with the hands was very much spontaneous. Usually with photography I am spontaneous as I am focused on capturing the moment. I will do scouting while I am out with friends, going to work etc. If I see something that impresses me I will return. The only set up that I did until now was the make-up on my portraits. During these shoots we were just walking around and it was from this that the shooting came into its own.
What is the climate like for you right now as a creative? How do you think the arts might be part of the post Covid-19 recovery?
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We have to support art workers. Covid- 19 makes it more difficult, and life of an artist in Greece has never been easy. You have to sacrifice a lot for doing what you love. During quarantine I wasn't creative or inspired, but the good thing is that the situation has united us (art workers) and I really needed it.
If I see something that impresses me I will return.
