Drama: Kostas Balafas’ valuable photographic work is exhibited in the Marble House

The photos of Kostas Balafas, presented at the Marble House in and travel young and old in the past decades… Photographic memories from modern Greece and a unique photographic journey to the monastic state of Athos have been hosted since last week in the impressive exhibition area of the mansion Anastasiades in Drama, or Marble House, as all Draminos know, in the lush park of the springs of Agia Varvara. The work of one of the most remarkable Greek photographers of the post-war period, Costas Balafas, is presented in the best possible way, while honoring his memory and offer, in the very interesting photographic exhibition, hosted since last week in the multi-space culture of AKE Kyklops next to the mansion Anastasiades. After the very interesting exhibition on the life and work of the famous Greek photographer Nelly’s (worldly Ellie Sougyultzoglou – Seraidari), visited by thousands of people from Drama, Kavala, Xanthi, Serres and many visitors from the rest of Greece and abroad, the well-preserved halls of the exhibition space of the mansion Anastasiades accommodate photographic testimonies of the Greek society, as recorded by Kostas Balafas. In the exhibition, which will last for more than six months, the inhabitants of the remote villages of his hometown, Epirus, as well as the old continental mothers, tending to maintain the continuity of life under adverse conditions. Through the works of the exhibition covering the post-war period, the photographer surrounds and records, with the admiration of a child and the sensory of an artist, the pulse of the Greek space, from the saltworks of the Ionian Sea to the lignite mines of Aliverios and from the winters of Epirus to the ironworks of Athens. The photographs were first presented in Skopelos in the summer of 1995, as part of the exhibition “Presences / Retrospective exhibition / Meletzis / Balafas / Tloupas”, organized by the Ministry of Culture and the municipality of Skopelos. Their choice was made by the creator himself in collaboration with photographer and photography professor Nikos Panagiotopoulos. The title “Photographic memories from modern Greece” was given in 2003, on the occasion of the presentation of this exhibition at the Benaki Museum and the publication of a self-titled album. Photographic journey to Mount Athos, 1969-2001 Kostas Balafas visited Mount Athos several times from 1969 to 2001, aiming to create his own photographic testimony about his place and people. The Athonite photographs offer the experience of his journey to Athos, reveal this special piece of Greek land through the perspective of their creator and familiarize us with a way of life, where tradition remains unchanged and the “myth of Rome” alive. At the same time, they complete the image of his own Greece, before they find their final and final place within the funnel of our collective memory. The exhibition “Costas Balafas. Photographic Journey to Mount Athos, 1969-2001” took place thanks to the initiative and valuable contribution of the Hierarch Justin Simonopertis and includes original prints of the creator. It was first presented at the Benaki Museum in 2006, in collaboration with the Agioretan Photo Gallery and with the supervision of Fanis Constantinos, the director of the photographic archives of the institution. Who was Kostas Balafas Kostas Balafas was born in 1917 in the mountainous village of Hosepisi (Kipseli today) in Epirus, to parents farmers. The period of his high school studies was found in Athens. During his stay in the capital he first held a camera on an excursion to Parnitha. In the late 1930s he graduated from the Dairy School of Ioannina, where he worked until the declaration of war. During the same period he acquired a Kodak Junior, while the printing technique he learned next to the professional photographer of Ioannina Apostolis G. Pantazidis. In late 1940, in the wreckage of an Italian bomber shot down by Greek anti-aircraft fire outside Ioannina was found a box with film film, which Balafas bought at a price of a few eights of cornice. With this and with a German Robot camera, which had been supplied a little earlier by an Italian soldier and with risky actions, as photography was banned during the occupation period, it captured unique historical moments from the armed guerrilla struggle of the continental people against the conquerors. In the Civil War period (1946–1949) and until 1951 he worked as an official translator of the British Mission travelling around the country. Then, thanks to the good knowledge of the English language he was hired to the American company EMBASCO SERVICES INC, a precursor of PPC, taking over the project reproduction sector. During his collaboration with the company he photographed the evolutionary course of the construction of the Kremast dam on the Acheloos river, possibly carrying out the first methodical recording of significant public work in Greece. In 2008, three years before his death, Kostas Balafas entrusted his rich and valuable photographic work (15,000 negatives, original photographic prints, 72 film as well as sound and written testimonies) to the Benaki Museum with the certainty that he will manage it with respect and proper ethics in both its preservation and its utilization.