Dora Bakogianni
In this portrait photography for Kappa Magazine of Kathimerini News, Dora Bakogianni stand in front of my camera, in the middle of the historical Dionysios Areopagitou Street in Athens.
"Celebrity is a mask that eats the face", said the American writer John Updike. For more than 30 years, Dora Bakogianni has been a famous politician. What is her real face and how long has she "endured" behind the "mask" of political celebrity? In a way, that was the theme of our meeting in her office, with its double view of the Parthenon and the Pillars of Olympian Zeus, at the beginning of Dionysios Areopagitou Street, in Athens. The eldest daughter of Constantinos Mitsotakis, the older sister of the president of New Democracy, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the former minister and almost the leader of the party is the female parliamentarian who has gone through perhaps the most difficult tests and has recorded the longest journey in politics to date. Where does the self-confidence that many admire about her come from, or the arrogance that just as many others insist on accusing her of?
Why be in politics when you know in advance that you will be misunderstood, beaten and never recognized? "There are a million reasons not to be in politics and probably all of them are right. But there is something about politics that you cannot find elsewhere. That incredible satisfaction that you have the ability to change a little stone in things and in the lives of others. It's not true that you can't. You can. Evrytania today is not the same as Evrytania in 1989. I used to cross the rivers walking on a log and there are now bridges. Evrytania had four doctors and now she has thirty-six, while she had reached forty-eight.
"And yet, I have no faith in myself," she says as she begins to slowly and steadily remove the mask, wanting to show that her real face is the same as the one she's had since she was a little girl in Athens and Crete. "It's a myth that I have a lot of confidence. Instead, I'm a woman with terrible insecurities and too many complexes. My main concern for many years was my height. Terrible complex. No boy would dance with me. I was the tallest and ugliest in the class. My mom sent me to ballet. But the teachers made me dance backwards. Eventually I found myself near a warehouse and left, because I was messing up the line. My grandmother had told me that there was no way I would ever find a man in my life, because as tall as I am, who would care to take me? And at school, my grades reached 16-17 at the most. I saw the twenties with binoculars."
The smile as a "defense"
But how does this description square with her public image? "When I entered politics, confidence became part of my public image, because what I didn't want at all was to reveal those fears and that insecurity. I felt that if others took my great weaknesses for granted, they would trample me down. After that, no one ever found out what my fears were. I was once attacked for smiling. But the smile is a pure form of defense. Apart from the fact that I smile by nature, in difficult times the smile is a defense, and I would say that it is a very good defense, since it irritates a lot of people..."
Text by Pavlos Papadopoulos for Kathimerini
"Evzones" The Greek Presidential Guard in Acropolis
Almost 150 years in existence, the elite evzones unit, as greece’s presidential guard is known, is much more than just a tourist spectacle sunday morning at the acropolis and the sun is just starting to make an appearance. as much of the city slumbers, a presidential guard unit marches up the sacred rock to raise the flag, a mystical, 20-minute ceremony encompassing the nation’s history, collective memory, traditions and symbols.
Roadtrip To North India
The bridge between fantasy and experience is accessibility. By Leaving your familiar convenient and safe habitat environment behind you, you open yourself to the new, unknown, transforming it into experience and knowledge.
The roadtrip lasted nine days. Starting point was the capital of India, New Delhi and the first destination was Jaipur in the 300 km. Third stop, after 600 miles was the city Dharamsala at Himalayas and final, Talnu village at 2,500 meters altitude. Many hours, a lot of patience ... You learn how to get through without your everyday safety like cleanliness, drinking water, food, bathroom and comfortable sleep .
If you really want to apprehend India, you have to close your eyes and open your heart. None of what you see is translated through the logical process. Nothing is based on the logical process we are familiar in as residents of the western world. Images, smells, sounds and feelings infest in you through the senses , transcend the mind and enter unfiltered deep in your heart and your cells. Most Indians remains intact by the consumer mantle, with the needs of the population limited on basics like rice, water, flour, handmade dyed clothes and a rudimentary shelter. For this reason the Indians are still in their purest condition without being affected by economic, political and social forces . They have learned to be fulfill and happy with minimum quality of life instead of civilized Westerners, who daily we sell out our friendships, families and ethics for a better salary, a better car and a " better life."
The jobs are also in their primary form. Nothing more than necessary to do their job . Lifestyle hasn’t yet entered in their life. You feel the reality , the truth without any doubt.
Even before my trip , I had decided to shed any greedy photography making process. To shed the photographer who hunts to create images of misery in order to provoke and excite. I chose to pick up my camera in front of charm, authenticity, uniqueness and beauty. I chose to depict the atmosphere , textures, colors, light. In the foreground, what else, People ... Vibrant, colorful Portraits like ghostly forms with no logical explanation where they came from and where they going. Many times motionless for hours, as if they had been homogeneous by the environment around them or never removed from that.
I would like to say a big thank you from my heart to those full of hospitality and kindness people I shared this valuable experience. Without them the trip would not be as important, safe and beautiful as it was! Many blessings and love to Anurag, Punnit, Jessee and above all Dimitri .
Lost in Istanbul for Gastronomos Magazine
Istanbul or “Constantinople” is the combination of civilizations had passed and lived in all the previous centuries. But its not only up to the level of culture. Its a combination as well as geomorphological that spreads from one side to the other of the city. The city expresses this diversity in every corner of every street from Taksim Square and the commercial Insitklal to Galata Bridge and the unique atmosphere of Bosphorus. From the neighbourhoods of Pera and Sisli to the Phanar and the Patriarchate. If you want to go even further with your soul and your body the boat to Chalcedon is there, waiting for you to transfer to the depths of East … The uniqueness of Istanbul is that all the images in every corner of the city, complemented by a incessant stimulation of all senses. The prayers “Adnan” of the Imam, the smells of the market and the spices … Brings you to another level giving you a multi-dimensional experience.
The ultimate expression of the trip in Istanbul are the markets and the Bazaar! There are so many “images” and so relief, that the Grand Bazaar will make you get lost in it across of the 58 streets. In every exit you choose you have the chance to enjoy one of the city’s sights and observe its architecture … Agia Sophia, the Blue Mosque and the “New Mosque” are the three main characteristics that describe architectural Istanbul and delimit Bosphorus. I left for last the unique experience of the Hammam… The discription with a single word is “ritual“ and a combination of all the above in a physical and mental purification procedure… The trip was for the Christmas tribute of Gastronomos magazine in cooperation with journalist Nena Demetriou.
or “Constantinople” is the combination of civilizations had passed and lived in all the previous centuries. But its not only up to the level of culture. Its a combination as well as geomorphological that spreads from one side to the other of the city. The city expresses this diversity in every corner of every street from Taksim Square and the commercial Insitklal to Galata Bridge and the unique atmosphere of Bosphorus. From the neighbourhoods of Pera and Sisli to the Phanar and the Patriarchate. If you want to go even further with your soul and your body the boat to Chalcedon is there, waiting for you to transfer to the depths of East … The uniqueness of Istanbul is that all the images in every corner of the city, complemented by a incessant stimulation of all senses. The prayers “Adnan” of the Imam, the smells of the market and the spices … Brings you to another level giving you a multi-dimensional experience.
The ultimate expression of the trip in Istanbul are the markets and the Bazaar! There are so many “images” and so relief, that the Grand Bazaar will make you get lost in it across of the 58 streets. In every exit you choose you have the chance to enjoy one of the city’s sights and observe its architecture … Agia Sophia, the Blue Mosque and the “New Mosque” are the three main characteristics that describe architectural Istanbul and delimit Bosphorus. I left for last the unique experience of the Hammam… The discription with a single word is “ritual“ and a combination of all the above in a physical and mental purification procedure… The trip was for the Christmas tribute of Gastronomos magazine in cooperation with journalist Nena Demetriou.
