3rd Chania Photo Days: Photographic “clicks” on what is lost – Chania 26th May until 6th June
“The acceleration of the pace of life in our days, combined with the loss of the last free urban spaces and the restriction of access to public goods in our country, creates a strange transformation of normality. In these extreme changes, there is usually an instinctive resistance to unconditional acceptance. Many times the vehicle of this reaction is art.”
The members of the Photography and Cinema Club of Chania (L.E.F.K.I.) focus on what is being lost and give us unexpected photographic “clicks”.
WHEN: inauguration on Monday, 26th May at 20.00
duration of exhibition: until 5th June
opening hours: 19.00 – 22.00
WHERE: “Mikis Theodorakis” Theatre, Katechaki Square, Old Port, Chania.
ENRICHED PROGRAM
“This year’s event is the third of Chania Photodays and has as its main body two exhibitions: the photography exhibition of our young students entitled “Lost” and the exhibition of the photo books of our more advanced students – members,” notes Spyros Zervoudakis, the president of LE.F.K.I., speaking at the “routes”. As he explains, it is rare for festivals to have their “core” exhibition of young students, and this is an element that differentiates Chania Photodays from other festivals.
However, this year’s event is also different from the previous two as it includes 3 other parallel exhibitions with a strong local character, curated by the esp+ gallery in Thessaloniki. These are the exhibitions “Please be quiet” by Savvas Kois, “On the outskirts” by Konstantinos Gdontakis and “Why we like it this way” by Maria Paterakis.
SUPER-LOCAL RECOGNITION
We ask our interlocutor if the festival is “getting on its feet” better after 3 years: “Certainly, it’s just that the pressure and fatigue increase year by year as everything is done on a voluntary basis. For us, it would be very important if there was greater support, not financial but logistical, from local bodies. On the other hand, it is very encouraging for us and gives us strength that the Festival is increasingly recognized in Greece,” notes Mr. Zervoudakis and adds: “We receive many proposals from all over the country to host their work, their book, their presentation, etc. at our Festival. Also, this is the third year that we have collaborated with the Photometria Festival. All this shows that even though we are amateurs, we now have a very good name outside”.
Through Chania Photodays and the supra-local recognition of the Festival, Chania is strengthening its position on the “photographic map” of Greece: “We believe that the Festival is definitely helping in this direction and Chania is “entering” the map more strongly. It is worth mentioning the following in this regard. A few months ago, the Thessaloniki Museum of Photography organized a landscape photography exhibition and out of the 30 people who participated, 4 or 5 were from Chania. In other words, there was a large representation of Chania and if you take into account that the photography schools are in Athens and Thessaloniki, it shows that something good is happening here in relation to photography and that LE.F.K.I. plays an important role in the educational process. This is something that has been recognized by the Department of Photography of the University of West Attica in Athens and by the Museum of Photography and its director Iraklis Papaioannou with whom we collaborate. In other words, they recognize that our educational program has yielded many, many fruits. Think about the fact that professors from Photography Schools in Athens or Thessaloniki contact us and ask us for our opinion about their students, who have attended courses at LE.F.KI. Even postgraduates ask us for our opinion and this has great value if one considers that we are not an official educational institution. However, it shows the prestige that LE.F.KI has.
Sources: Haniotika Nea and zarpanews.gr
