Renowned photographer, Effy Alexakis, held the first major Australian launch of her new book Effy Alexakis: Forty Photographs – A Year at a Time at the Hellenic Club of Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory on Sunday.
The limited edition, fine art publication was officially launched at 3pm in the Apollo Room, with John Kalokerinos as the emcee.
Mr Kalokerinos provided a detailed introduction to Ms Alexakis on the day, as well as historian Leonard Janiszewski and Justice Chrissa Loukas-Karlsson (of the ACT Supreme Court).
Justice Chrissa moderated a discussion between Ms Alexakis and Mr Janiszewski about their work, the new book, their lives, their countless experiences shared with interviewees, and their professional and personal hopes for the future.
The audience followed up the discussion with a number of personal questions to both Ms Alexakis and Mr Janiszewski.
Speaking with The Greek Herald after the event, Ms Alexakis said she was “honoured to have in attendance a number of people that were influential in our research work from the 1980s.”
“Our day started with meeting the President of the Greek Community of Canberra, John Loukadellis and his boys, and Andrew Satsias, the current President of the Hellenic Club of Canberra,” Ms Alexakis said.
“It was a lovely event and we are grateful to the Hellenic Club as we have had a long running relationship with them from the beginning.”
Also in attendance during the talk were Margy Burn (former Mitchell Librarian and National Library Australasian Librarian), Dr Barry York (historian of publications on the Maltese in Australia and former curator at the Museum of Australian democracy), Professor Martyn Jolly (at the Australian National University), the Gerakiteys sisters (formerly of the Blue Moon Cafe, Canberra), and Evangelia Dascarolis (formerly of the Popular Cafe, Cootamundra).
More information about the book can be found at: www.cafesandmilkbars.com.au
*All photo by Lisa Andonaros, Events Manager, Hellenic Club of Canberra
