“Carpe Diem or Seize the day”
SANTORINI ARTS FACTORY (SAF) has the pleasure to invite you to Christoforos Doulgeris’ exhibition “CARPE DIEM”.
The artist presents, especially for SAF, his photographic work, which he has collected throughout the year, taking photographs of the lost and the remaining signs of the industrial tomato in Santorini, registering images of the nine tomato factories which were active in the island. The photographs record images from the past and present of these tomato factories in a theatrical and poetic way. Signs and marks of the past of the tomato industry come back in order to reinstate an artistic dialogue with reality, illuminating its unseen sides.
A pop art action in the original place of the museum.
Christoforos Doulgeris
In this series of work, Christoforos Doulgeris photographs machines out of commission, whose practical role has been replaced to some extent by that of display. They appear for the first time as protagonists on a pedestal, while still carrying important information and morsels of historical memory. Removed from their chain of production, these machines now appear in an autonomous role staged by the photographer among perishable materials and the space that hosts them. In addition to recording reality, the photographer introduces new elements of imagery to bring about a reconstruction. With special lighting and staging as his tools he directs a new role for each machine. He examines the concept of time as he brings the machines ‘back to life’ and extends their operation a bit further.
In their photographic rendering the machines come close to resembling human elements; these are portraits which extend the medium of photography beyond its limits and into the realm of sculptural representation. The volumes and mechanical parts are reworked and elevated into monuments. On the one hand these monuments are linked to past human life and experience, on the other they attest to man’s capacity for creation! In art’s struggle to create, the role of man is as unquestionably decisive as that of machines which transmute, evolve and ultimately cease to exist, succumbing to technological requirements. They constitute, like people, the past of history and social reality.
Social commentary, a need for self-esteem or a need for recapitalising the spirit in our life? In any case, in this chapter of history the sole narrator is the photograph!
