PRESENT

AI STRATIS PHOTOGRAPHIC IMAGES (1940 - 1970)
VASILIS MANIKAKIS ARCHIVE

Direct from a successful season at the Benaki Museum, Athens, this exhibition presents a collection of unique B&W photographs from the archive of self-taught photographer Vasilis Manikakis, taken on the remote Aegean island of Ai Stratis.

The photographs offer a fascinating insight into the everyday life of the island in by gone years: the island topography, the harbour, daily activities, festivals and rites, the catastrophic earthquake of 1968, and most poignantly, masterly portraits of its people. Manikakis captures his fellow villagers in everyday moments, enjoying them-selves, carousing, suffering, protesting and in moments of sadness and grief.

The images strike at the heart of Modern Greek history. Life on Ai Stratis during this time is a microcosm for the most troubled period in C20th Greece. The island was used as a place of exile and deportation for thousand of political prisoners during the Axis occupation of Greece, and the Greek Civil War that followed.

Inextricably linked to the history of modern Australia, the world captured in these photographs is in essence the pre-cursor and catalyst to the mass dislocation and migration of post war European society.

The exhibition will have its international premiere in Sydney before touring to the United States and Europe.