Retired Crussaders Print

Since 2005 I have been working mainly on traveling projects,inspired by my daily baths in the Ganga at Varanasi.I create my works on the road and daily I sent them through the post office to the participants of the project through the several months it lasts, without keeping extra copies for myself. The material I am creating is based on low-tech photographic images. I work with local photocopy places and I create mostly hand made cards, with texts on the back, and black and white Xerox copies of photos I take, which I color over partially to create a focal point. The works I create are gathered in the hands of the participants, and after I complete the project I borrow them back briefly and arrange them into folders and return them. Before returning the material I work further on the best images from the project and print them bigger as the crystallized essence of the project. At the end of each project my aim is to create a small art book that transfers the feeling of the project. I have managed to do this only for the first three journeys.The works are of two kinds, the original material the participants receive and the bigger prints made after the completion of the journey.The whole series of the journeys started in 2005. I have completed eight journeys/art projects so far, that lasted from four months to one year:2005-06 Athens to Varanasi, India (through Turkey, Iran, Pakistan)2006-07 Varanasi, India to Auckland, New Zealand (through Bangladesh, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia)2007-08 A journey in Athens2009 One year in Varanasi, India2011 One year in Bangkok (in six months) Thailand2012-13 A journey in New York2014 Athens II/ Char Dham (a journey to the four corners of India and the temples representing the cardinal points)I plan to continue my work in India again next year and to a Devi pilgrimage to the temples built around the parts of Sati's body that fell from the sky,when Siva flew above India carrying her burned body.I like works that are express personal truth and believe in the existence of beauty.