Hellenic-American Union - Photographic Circle
Photography Exhibition
Photographic Pairs
Despina Pilati – Efi Chaliori
The "Photographic Circle" continues its collaboration with the Hellenic-American Union with the third exhibition from the series entitled "Photographic Circle". Each year these exhibitions showcase the work of two of the photographers who are members of the "Circle", whose life paths or photographic journeys somehow meet. They might be relatives or inseparable friends. Their photographic themes might be common, or their artistic approach similar. However, they might also be connected through the substantial difference of seemingly similar work. Thus, the dialogue between the two artistic proposals will expand mentally beyond the displayed photographs, as the relationship of the photographers themselves and their proposals will provoke searches for identification and distance.
This third exhibition will be inaugurated on February 19, 2013 Despina Pilati and Efi Chaliori.
The exhibition will last until March 21.
Despina Pilati: Journey Full of Surprises
Most photographers have an initial period of uncertainty and exploration in their personal photographic history, filled with youthful indiscretions. Despina Pilati surprises anyone observing her early steps because she plunged into the deep end and immediately floated. Therefore, the collection contained in this book includes significant photographs even from her photographic beginnings.
Most photographers facing a dynamic start encounter one or more periods of confusion and regression until they find their new direction. Despina Pilati surprises again, as the changes in her course do not deny her dynamic past, while adopting entirely new solutions to the same problems without any hesitation.
Her ability to control and provoke the form does not exclude her from the overall sense of emotional charge of the frame. And without resisting the pull of emotional extensions, she does not allow them to monopolize her photography.
Her brief photographic journey to date, as depicted in the photographic collection of this album, reveals the courage and certainty of a path whose future promises pleasures and surprises.
Efi Chaliori: Innocence and Boldness
I never managed—nor did I want to—to rid myself of the habit I have as a teacher to observe with admiration the journey of young photographers as they try to fathom the medium and define their personal stance towards it.
Efi Chaliori initially took a few hesitant steps before venturing into the vast realm of photographic creation. And, as expected, these steps began within her personal family space. However, they were remarkably bold moves, demonstrating that she possessed both the knowledge and the willingness to shape her own artistic vision.
Subsequent photographs proved that the protective initial shell had cracked and that audacity took the place of hesitations. Now, all subjects were possible and every approach a challenge. The risk would be to replace the initial emotional basis of family moments with aesthetic and formalistic searches. However, it was precisely this risk that gave substance to the photographer's course. Struggling between the allure of aestheticism, the essence of events, and the hidden emotion of situations, she managed to use a plethora of uneven or even contradictory themes with a common content seeking her photographic uniqueness.
Of course, it is unknown what the next photographic steps of Efi Chaliori will offer, but what is certain is that the initial innocence will always remain a strong base and the emerging daring an essential prerequisite for a personal proposal. Besides, the very good results that emerged from a brief photographic past promise an even more significant photographic future.
Plato Rivellis