grey
a black and white photobook
April 2015 #14
grey Edited and designed by Constantinos Andronis [www.c-andronis.gr] www.greymagazine.gr |info@greymagazine.gr All rights lie with the artists. No part of the material published in grey may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording or any other information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the artists.
Ρυθμίστε την οθόνη σας, έτσι ώστε να βλέπετε όλες τις διαβαθμίσεις του γκρι Adjust your screen settings, so that you can see all shades of grey
BRANDON CROCKETT Finding Freedom VACARCKS LORรกND VELA Untitled ELENI ONASOGLOU Untitled DIMITRIS MYTAS Untitled
The portrait; the artist’s struggle to tear the layer between the subject and the lens. The portrait; the artist’s agony to reflect on its own self through the revelation of the subject. grey #14 presents four photographic essays on portraiture. Brandon Corckett’s Finding Freedom overwhelmingly intense essay of portraits of former inmates taken by the internationally acclaimed photographer Sandro, Lorand-Vela’s series of portraits depicting probably the last generation of Romanian people living in a rural setting, following their ancestral pattern, Onasoglou’s set of fleeting moments that ponder on the “annihilation of place” and Myta’s attempt to capture the plasticity of his subjects through his lens. Constantinos Andronis, editor (www.c-andronis.gr)
BRANDON CROCKETT
Finding Freedom “Finding Freedom” is a collection of poetry and portraits of former inmates now living at St. Leonard’s Ministries, a halfway house for individuals recently released from prison, on Chicago’s near west side. All poetry was written in a monthly class facilitated by Brandon Crockett, a community volunteer and advertising copywriter. The portraits were taken by internationally acclaimed photographer, Sandro. Side by side, the portraits and poetry provide intimate access into a world experienced by few outsiders. Those who read their faces and words will likely feel an urge to maintain the separation between “us” and “them” while acknowledging that our essential differences are in fact, negligible. A total of 65 portraits and poems will appear in an upcoming coffee table book entitled Finding Freedom: Poetry and Portraits of Former Inmates. The book is currently available for pre-order on its website and is estimated to be completed by late summer this year. All proceeds from the book sales will benefit St. Leonard’s Ministries.
VACARCKS LORĂĄND-VELA
Untitled More than  twenty years after the fall of the Romanian communist regime led by Ceausescu , the country’s industry, which once was the pride of the nation, suddenly collapsed. Most of the factories and plants were privatized and later demolished and sold piece by piece. More than two million tons of scrap metal and broken machinery from former factories were sold abroad. People that used to work there lost their jobs, and many of them ended up in poor conditions, earning their living by collecting pieces of iron from the industrial platform and selling them to the collection centers of ferrous metals, that developed over night all over the country. In the same time, the inhabitants of remote villages continue their traditional lifestyle, in the very heart of nature. This other side of the Romanian people represents a symbolic return to the roots of the nation, at the ancestral traditions. The few old people that continue living their life the same way their forefathers did, may be the last generation of this kind.
ELENI ONASOGLOU
Untitled Subtraction of color, interruption of a linear continuum of instants, discontinuance of existence, annihilation of place. My photographic word is a journey back in time to my earliest memories, to an endless exertion of keeping time frozen, toward a future that looks like it ends up in the beginning. My inspiration comes from stills of life, forms and past time gazes which slip by. Whatever motivates me leads me mechanically in replicating a vicious circle for an experiential reminiscence of the past and revival of emotions. “We come from a dark abyss, we end in a dark abyss, and we call the luminous interval life� Nikos Kazantzakis, The Saviours of God: Spiritual Exercises, 1923.
DIMITRIS MYTAS
Untitled Wednesday morning. Day off. Empty house. Lamprini at work, the children at school. Piano sonatas on the air and beams of winter light from the eastern window. Coffee. I peruse my portraits and ponder (for yet another time). I stand still before a blank sheet of paper asking to be filled with words for the immediate needs of the portfolio. Trying to make maps for the human landscapes I have been exploring for years now. To mentally approach the severity of posture, the prismatic essence of the body structures, the enchanting vagueness created by the catalytic presence of light. I know, I am not good with words. I abandon interpretation and surrender (again) in the charm of the gaze, the plasticity of the figures, the eternity of the captured moment.
Brandon Crockett bpcrockett@gmail.com findingfreedombook.com @findfreedombook sandrofilm.com @sandrofilm
Vakarcs Lorรกnd-Vela http://vakarcslorand.portfoliobox.me vlorand@gmail.com
Eleni Onasoglou http://elenionasoglouphotography.gr vincanto1@hotmail.com
Dimitris Mytas dmytas@yahoo.com dimitrismytas@gmail.com
grey is an online bimonthly black and white photography magazine. Its purpose lies in presenting portfolios of artists who express themselves through black and white photography. grey is free for anyone to download. www.greymagazine.gr
Consider donating to grey through PayPal