Poetics, Materialities, Performances: Greek Photographic Books 2000-2023

At the dawn of the new century, we are witnessing the renaissance and democratisation of the photographic book in Greece. The exhibition Poetics, Materialities, Performances: Greek Photographic Books 2020-2023 documents this evolution and explores its characteristics. Several factors have influenced this development. The advent of new digital technologies enabled cost-efficient production, self-publishing, and international dissemination. The relatively delayed institutionalisation of photography as an art form on par with painting and sculpture within the Greek art scene, played an equally significant role, resulting in a notable increase in museum publications. Furthermore, as photographic books respond to and reflect diverse pictorial approaches and trends, this curatorial proposition seeks to offer a concise overview of contemporary photographic practices. To this end, the selection is cross-generational and includes books that retrospectively cover a broader context of practice dating back to the 1970s. It encompasses monographs that may focus on a specific topic, publications presenting one or more bodies of work, curated retrospectives of a practitioner’s oeuvre, as well as expanded exhibition publications and self-published books. The books on display present a kaleidoscope of photographic practices, ranging from landscape, street, studio, directorial, and diaristic photography to social documentary, conflict photography, and re-articulations of “the photographic,” which often arise from the intersection of photography with various other media, such as digital media and painting. They also address a wide array of topics: identities, the Greek crisis, history and collective memory, the interplay between nature and culture, communities, societal issues, politics. The title of the exhibition indicates three methodological approaches to the materials. Poetics, that is, the storytelling mechanisms, the editing and sequencing of the photographs, the dialectical juxtaposition of text, images, and graphic design, plays a pivotal role in this exploration. Equally significant are the materiality and objecthood of these publications, including their size and format, the paper thickness and texture, all of which are integral parts of their narrative and haptic experience. Lastly, the exhibition highlights how photographic books perform as visual and textual propositions and as cultural experiences, and examines the impact these performances have on audiences and the histories of Greek photography. The purpose of a book is to be leafed through and read. In line with this principle, the exhibition is designed as an interactive display that invites touch and contemplation. Here, visitors are not passive spectators but active participants whose individuality determines the ways the books are handled and their journey of multiple associations. Artists Costis Antoniadis, Alexandros Avramidis, Manolis Baboussis, Ilias Bourgiotis, Dimitra Dede, John Demos, Nikos Economopoulos, Petros Efstathiadis, Pavlos Fysakis, Aikaterini Gegisian, Alexandros Georgiou, Aris Georgiou, Haris Kakarouhas, Stratos Kalafatis, Katerina Kaloudi, Alexandros Katsis, Demetris Koilalous, Panos Kokkinias, Yannis Kontos, Maria Louka, Natassa Markidou, Nikos Markou, Despina Meimaroglou, Persephone Michou, Katerina Moschou, Lia Nalbantidou, Effie Paleologou, Nikos Panayotopoulos, Yiannis Pantelidis, Roula Patra, Avraam Pavlidis, Paris Petridis, Penelope Petsini, Nikos Pilos, Platon Rivellis, Andreas Schοinas, Panagiotis Sotiropoulos, Spyros Staveris, Yiannis Theodoropoulos, Marinos Tsagkarakis, Dimitris Tsoumplekas, Eirini Vourloumis, Tassos Vrettos, Yorgos Yatromanolakis, Yiorgis Yerolymbos, Zak / Zackie Oh, Lily Zoumpoul

Closing Remarks

MOMus-Thessaloniki Museum of Photography announces the Greek edition of Fast Forward: Women in Photography, which is organised in partnership with the University for the Creative Arts (UCA) and the University of Sunderland. The theme for the fifth conference, to be held in Thessaloniki, Greece, will focus on the hidden (hi)stories of women’s photographies seeking to reflect on current debates on gender justice. Writing about the recognition of ‘women’ as a political subject and questioning who has the power to define what ‘women’ means, Silvia Federici urged: “We must identify the world of antagonistic politics and power relations by which our bodies are constituted and rethink the struggles that have taken place in opposition to the ‘norm’ if we are to devise strategies for change” (2020: 10). And indeed, as Françoise Vergès argued, if we are to “re-humanise the world” and fight against the ways “femonationalism” and “femoimperialism” service neoliberalism (2021:17), we need to move beyond mainstream narratives and normative histories, beyond relational notions of centres and peripheries and bring to the fore the hidden stories of anonymous women, those identifying as women and non-binary people told by and through photography. The conference aims to explore the following questions and beyond: >> How can photography demystify the socio-culturally constructed notion of ‘women’ and advocate its expansion to include transgender, gender-fluid and non-binary/non-conforming identities? >> How can we understand women’s photographies considering the often oppositional diversities of prescriptive identities, socially constructed performances of gender and reproductive labour, racialisation, enslavement, and colonisation in different social contexts and historical periods? >> In what ways may photography become a weapon for equality, reproductive justice, deracialisation, and freedom for women, those identifying as women and non-binary people against the oppressive power of heteronormative patriarchy, the state, and capitalism? >> What are the (hi)stories of women in front and behind the camera that are silenced or disregarded from normative art histories and institutions? What are the fundamental barriers in such systems and how may women’s practices be included in multiple narratives rather than being confined to gendered interpretations? >> How has the “performative turn” affected the curatorial practices of exhibiting women’s photographies and how have their unknown (hi)stories been represented in museums? >> What would just and inclusive histories of women’s photography look like from a transnational, decolonial perspective

HerPhotographies: Towards an Expanded Photographic Field

This text examines chronologically, starting from the mid-1970s, and in the context of transnational histories, the ways in which Greek women image-makers from different backgrounds and generations opposed singular interpretations of the photographic medium and how they strove to expand it, thus shaping new perspectives for photographic art

HerStories. Photographic Practices, 1974-2024

The #MeToo movement, feminist strikes, feminist demands for the eradication of gender violence often stand in various ways under the spotlight lately, very often in a tragic way. Additionally, although female artistic creation and the feminist approach to the arts do not necessarily constitute a new or innovative research perspective in the 21st century, however, and for various reasons, historically, this perspective does not seem to be a priority in the research and critique of artistic fields. In the wake of these international debates on gender and identities and the general trend of exploring women's creative work, the new exhibition-production by MOMus-Thessaloniki Museum of Photography under the title “HerStories. Photographic practices, 1974-2024” seeks to showcase the domestic photographic production of women, from the 1970s onwards. The exhibition will be hosted in the Thessaloniki Museum of Photography and the Experimental Center for the Arts of MOMus, from 17 May until 15 September 2024; forty artists and photographers, four curators and eight researchers contribute in mapping this particular field of endeavor for the first time in Greece. The exhibition is structured in three complementary narratives that seek to cover the multiple and complex dimensions of women's photographic practices over these five decades: the approaches to issues of women's identity regardless of whether they were self-determined as "feminist" or not, the representations of social and political realities through documentary photography, and the explorations of the photographic medium itself through works that are often highly experimental in nature. Integrating these three narratives, the exhibition aims to display the diverse and dynamic contribution of women in the field of photography: it presents the complexity of the female experience, the socio-political context in which they operate, and the innovative artistic ideas they use. A bilingual edition accompanies the exhibition and functions as a supplement, focused on the history of women's photographic creation in Greece from the 19th century to the Metapolitefsi period (meaning change of regime), with texts by scholars in the field

Museum Dialogues: An Introduction

Photography permeates every aspect of contemporary life, serving as a tool for visual communication, personal expression, artistic creation, documentation, social engagement, and civic action. In the twentieth-first century, the traditional distinctions between high and low art, as well as between art and applied practices, and among different lens-based media have become blurred over time, rendering previous museum taxonomies obsolete and posing practical challenges for professionals. This inaugural agenda-setting workshop seeks to foster dialogue among international scholars, curators, artists, photographers, museum professionals, and archivists regarding various definitions and understandings of “photography” and its cultural significance within and beyond museum settings. Featuring presentations by invited speakers, a roundtable discussion, and breakout sessions, the workshop aims to explore diverse institutional perspectives, policies, practices, and challenges related to the collection, exhibition, and interpretation of photographic images. Insights and feedback collected from participants will shape the framework and topics of subsequent workshops