Photographers Effy Alexakis and Yannis Dramitinos joined with painter George Michelakakis to individually provide their personal introspective on the theme of death in an exhibition at The Shop Gallery located at 112 Glebe Point Rd, Glebe in Sydney.
Titled Thanatos: Death Personified, the exhibition officially opened on Saturday, October 28, and will run through to Wednesday, November 1 from 12 noon to 6pm daily.
Within the exhibition, the works by Alexakis, Dramitinos and Michelakakis wrestle with difficult concepts, questions and emotions around the theme of death.
Alexakis’ work embraces a juxtapositioning of ancient Greek, Greek Orthodox and ancient Egyptian ritual, ceremony and human emotions, empathy and individual spirituality.
Dramitinos dwells upon the physical and personally spiritual through his wonderings amongst the generations of gravestones in Sydney’s Waverley Cemetery.
Michelakakis evokes the socio-political effects of institutionalised religion upon individuals and society and the face and understanding of death if one considers the ‘death’ (absence/non-existence) of a personified God.
The opening event on Saturday was packed-out with a number of official guests including Professor Vrasidas Karalis, Effie Carr, George Alexander, Anna Couani, Hilik Mirankar, Vasilis Vasiliadis, Dina Tourvas and Leonard Janiszewski.
Many attendees embraced the ‘death’ theme on the day, wearing black and enjoying some delicious ‘koliva’ (a dish based on boiled wheat that is used liturgically in the Eastern Orthodox Church for commemorations of the dead).
On Sunday, there was also a special ‘in conversation’ event featuring Professor Karalis and writer Mr Alexander discussing their recent experiences of death. Author and lawyer Ms Carr mediated the session, which ran between 4-6pm.
