Delmar Gallery, Sidney/Australia, in association with Head On Photo Festival
Organised by the Photography Centre of Thessaloniki
Curated by Jacob Aue Sobol and Sun Hee Engelstoft.
Participants are: Manos Chrissovergis, Michalis Kalaitzakis, Lilly Zoumpouli, Ariadni Pediotaki, Andreas Paradissopoulos, Eleni Onasoglou, Thanassis Karatzas, Panagiotis Skalkotos, Christos Vatalachos, Dareos Khalili, Panos Arvanitakis, Dimitra Chatzipavlou, Thanassis Raptis, Efthimis Mouratidis, Vassilis Karkatselis, Dimitris Simeonidis, Nikos Kotzampasakis, Sakis Dazanis, Maria Kappatou, Georgia Panakia, Loucas Vassilikos.
Home is a place of memories. It is where we have our roots. It is a place we keep returning to. If we want to learn more about ourselves and the world we live in, this is where we look – in our own backyard. The place where our personality is shaped and dreams are build.
Two years ago I began my own Home project.
I found two pictures that inspired me. The first taken three years ago of my twin brother putting his hand on my grandmothers forehead as she was dying, and the other of Sabine’s sister giving birth in Greenland back in 2002. For me the obvious existential character of these two images started off this project called Home. And so, since April 2011 I have been photographing friends, partners and acquaintances, but also encounters with strangers that I felt a connection with, and who invited me inside their apartments or houses.
In my workshop in Lafkos I gave the artist the same assignment or inspiration. Photograph your Home in a village you don’t know and where you have never been before. Show me what Home means to you. Not how it looks like but how it feels. The project turned out amazing.
In the process the artists did not only use their camera to take pictures, but also as an instrument to create intimacy and closeness in a poetic and direct way. In spite of photography’s seemingly concrete form they exposed layers in people that are not immediately visible, but nonetheless shape who we are and give meaning to our lives.
This is their Home.
Jacob Aue Sobol