Water | Currents
The Four Elements of Nature and Man
December 13th 2008 until March 25th 2009
Thessaloniki Museum
of Photography
This exhibition includes different trends in photography today, as they are visible in the works
of the Prix Pictet, but also in the group exhibition by Greek and foreign artists. On the one part of
the exhibition, the Prix Pictet, the issue of sustainability, the social and environmental dimension
which permeate the element of water are brought into the forefront. On the other part, the
exhibited works transmit images of fiction, contemplation, subjectivity and sometimes frivolity.
Currents where documentary photography and photography of the unreal come into dialogue echoing the variations which can result from contemporary creation:
ZOOM Magazine | November - December 2008 Issue
Cover, Article & Interview
"We get a glimpse of the magic hidden in everyday things and that which we normally ignore in reality takes on a perceptible importance, a new dignity an authenticity that is exclusive and generous, as well as with a poetic almost lyrical potential. Here color plays a crucial role."
ASPECTS OF HELLENIC PHOTOGRAPHY Classical and Contemporary Greek Artists
June 2nd until July 11th 2009
"The issues raised from the works of these ten selected artists deal with the relationship one develops with open space and the redefinition of the Greek
countryside, the subject’s perception as a unit in a crowd, the invention of
symbolic space which results through oppositions, the recording of
personal time through the description of other people and finally the
exploration of the limits of private space, of objects and of memories."
Journal 1998-2002 Villa Audi, Beirut, Liban
October 15th until November 5th 2008 "This exhibition, the first by Stratos Kalafatis in Beirut, includes works from the series “Journal 1998-2002”. These are photographs which convey memories of joy, fear, curiosity, optimism and solidarity with space and with people. Faces, places, landscapes and various other spaces “pass” before the lens of the artist, who suggests a world formed of colour.
In his work, a nature of the real, problematic unto itself, is born, and that is how we perceive it with our emotions. At the same time, it urges us to consider the contradictions in our relationships with reality and with the profound essence of photography. "
PHoto Espana 07 - PHE07
10th International Festival of Photography and Visual Arts Madrid. June 2nd (Saturday) until 22th of July (Sunday), 2007 5:00pm - 9:00pm
"Kalafatis focusses on a seemingly unreal reality, a sublimation of fiction, an experience enveloping the entire work in colour. An invitation to melt into the vibrant hues of his images, meandering from yellow to green, from blue back to yellow, in a succession of varying intensities of light. A distinctive trait of the Greek artist given unexpected prominence in these photos."
Imago Magazine no.22
Contemporary Greek photography is not what one could characterize as ‘well known’ in today’s art scene but there are undoubtedly cases of Greek photographers who have attained in producing engrossing work and have managed to exhibit it abroad; one of these cases is that of the 40-year old Stratos Kalafatis.
Kalafatis didn’t start out his career as a photographer but rather as an athlete who at some point in his life, out of luck, choice or coincidence decided to devote himself to the art of photography and has been doing that since 1993. One of his most original works is the entitled “Journal 1998-2002”, in summary a series of photographs of people, faces, animals, places and objects he took on the island of Skopelos within four years.
Using a special technique, he transforms up to an extent, the real into the surreal, reminding us of the images we see while dreaming or even daydreaming. The invisible and usually ignored uniqueness of simple, ordinary moments of our lives reveal their concealed magic, the one we tend to beglect of forget. Stratos Kalafatis doesn’t keep a written diary; his diary is a picture one…
EU Japan Fest: European Eyes on Japan / Japan Today vol.8 EU-Japan is a creative program of culture held jointly by the EU-Japan Fest Japan Comittee and the Cultural Capital of Europe every since 1993. Our aim has been to make these activities opportunities to contemplate, through culture, the individual existance of human beings.
The plan is
for photographers based in Europe to photograph all of the 47 prefectures of Japan based on this theme over the four years beginning in 1999 to create a photographic legacy that can bequeath to the future:
February 2nd (Friday) until 25th (Sunday), 2007 2:00pm Opening Ceremony: Prefectural Art Museum - Exhibition Rooms 2 &
3, Picture Gallery and Workshop Room.
February 3rd (Sunday)2007, 2:00pm-3:30pm A talk including Mr. Kalafatis, Ms. Borghouts, Mr. Nonaka, the curator of the art museum, local photographers (from the Saga Prefecture Photography Association) and Mr. Hideki Kuga. Prefectural Art Museum: Gallery and Workshop Room.
February 4th (Sunday)2007, 10:00am-4:00pm Workshop:
Prefectural Art Museum: Gallery and Workshop Room.
February 11th (Sunday) 2007, 6:30pm-8:00pm Book 246: Tokyo, Japan : www.book246.com