Quality in Color
Mitos / The Thread of Greece
Exploring the faith and community of Greece’s extraordinary folk culture in the XXI century.
The Mitos Project started in 2019 and is an ongoing ethnographic tribute that focuses on local costumes throughout Greece. The thread takes on symbolic dimensions and seeks to highlight popular culture and folk art seen in a contemporary context. The natural and cultural environment is the background that is associated with the “costumes” while the protagonists are always the people.
Through this project, it is claimed the promotion of the beauty of the Greek folk culture that concerns both the simplicity and the splendor of the form of clothing as a central theme. The content has a multitude of meanings and is related to the social, historical, economic, and cultural context, to networks of relationships, to struggles, and the construction of identities. In addition, natural space and architecture are dominant elements in the image.
The peculiarity of this photographic work lies in its modern view, through the people who have kept their clothes as heirlooms and pass them on to the next generation while using them on customary and festive occasions spontaneously, updating the mechanisms of tradition as a process.
A thread that binds us with our roots!
The Mitos Project is characteristic of my identity as a photographer, it incorporates specific aesthetic forms with the topics that interest me. It is almost idealistic and tends to idealize the faces, it is often compared to “iconography”, however for me it is just an attempt to capture a “truth” that I see exists at the time of photography. Creating only with natural light and with unpretentious faces, I resist the “impressively artificially made spectacle” of fashion that ultimately is an illusion while this condition tends to replace real life. This art does not fit into narrow boundaries and defined types but breathes in the intermediate space “in between and betwixt” while its dynamic is liquidity.
The people who still wear the local costumes are the subject of Mitos which deals with Greek folk art and the particular ethno-scapes. The thread that I “hold”, therefore, takes me on a journey through space and time. The thread unites the stories and experiences of people while at the same time claiming visibility for these stories to be heard by a wider audience. Mitos in a wider perspective is not just a photography work but also a storytelling one.
Clothes / fashion, casual or festive, wedding dresses, are an integral part of the self and the body while suggesting a system of values and containing overt or covert cultural codes. The journey of “Mitos”, therefore, concerns the concept of physicality, the body as the means by which we perceive and understand the world, we exist and we feel, we think and we act. All of these cultural elements emerge on the basis of humanitarian values, the antithesis of nationalism, highlighting multicultural osmosis as a creative process. This process is extremely dynamic and fluid while it has great executive power while at the same time the viewer maintains a “free relationship” with the artwork. I believe that the power of art together with the power of storytelling enables a substantial – between the old, the new, the “meta” dialogue of all human beings, without discrimination, without stereotypes, without social exclusions and controversies, bridging gaps and seeking to combat racism and pathogenesis. The importance of public dialogue that begins on the occasion of photography, concerns the formation of perceptions, attitudes and change of mentality in a more positive direction.
Ethos / Another Side of Greece
Greek civilisation isn’t just about monuments and myth.
Customs whose origins are lost in the mists of time and cultural practices that have been observed since Homer’s day. Fascinating and peculiar traditions tied to different clans and localities, with multiple layers of social, economic and ritual significance. Rites inextricably connected with specific places and communities.
These are the deep roots of Greek culture. They live on in customs and local traditions…from Crete to Macedonia and the Aegean to the Ionian islands, the wealth, diversity and colour of this country’s customs and traditions will astound you.
Ethnic diversity and tradition in Greece.
They all make a fascinating mosaic of tribes, some nomadic, some indigenous, some from former ancient colonies, who eventually settled in Greece.
The result?
A uniquely diverse population for such a small country.
Michael Pappas make images of this customs and traditional events in Greece. His images are being published internationally, including VOGUE, New York Times, National Geographic, VICE US and more. The exhibition at the Benaki Museum presented for the first time to the Athenian public, images that the photographer have made over the last 10 years during his visits to traditional events in Greece.
His love of human-centered pictures, as well as rural Greece, prompted to create images during local traditional events and to produce a more experiential work. His goal is to see all these traditional events up close so that he can show them to the general public through the art of photography.
Mitos on VOGUE
SPOTLIGHT PHOTOGRAPHER by VOGUE for the Mitos Project. 2022-2023.
The Mitos Project started in 2019 and is an ongoing ethnographic tribute that focuses on local women costumes throughout Greece.
LFI Michael Pappas
PUBLICATIONS
LIMITED EDITION PRINTS
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A collection of iconic photos from the Mitos Project.
These prints offer the opportunity to own a piece of Mitos Project history in a market-defining format.
LIMITED EDITION PRINTS
BEST IN PRINT 2022
The Book of Ten
2022
MITOS PHOTOS BOX
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Get a license for presentation rights and create your own exhibition!
About
Mitos Photos Box is an innovative and affordable solution for institutions, companies and organisations, to educate and bring awareness to the causes they are passionate about and are aligned with. It’s easy, flexible and interactive display methods allow you to create your own exhibition catered to your own space.
Specification
Each box contains prints and the license to the presentation rights of this exhibition for a duration of one year.
Please note, there are limited sets of this Mitos Photos Box licensed globally. We work strictly on a first come, first serve basis.
Collaborations:
– Mitos Photos Box at Olympic Stadium of Athens. GREECE. 2021.
– Mitos Photos Box at Photometria Photography Center. GREECE. 2021.
– Mitos Photos Box at Bar Vlaha. Boston. USA. 2023.
– Mitos Photos Box at Art Gallery. Belgrade. SERBIA. 2023.
EXHIBITIONS
EXHIBITIONS
-THE BENAKI MUSEUM OF GREEK CULTURE. GREECE. ATHENS. NOV6 2018 – JAN13 2019. ETHOS.
-MUSEE FRAGONARD. FRANCE. GRASSE. MAY25 – SEP22, 2019. ETHOS.
-PHOTOMETRIA PHOTOGRAPHY CENTER. GREECE. IOANNINA. SEPTEMBER 2021. MITOS.
-GALLERY HESTIA. SERBIA. BELGRADE. JUN20 – SEP17, 2023. ETHOS, MITOS.
-MODULAR PHOTOGRAPHIC INSTALLATION. GREECE. KYTHNOS ISLAND. JUL22 – OCT01 2023. THREADS.
PERMANENT EXHIBITION
-OLYMPIC ATHLETIC CENTER OF ATHENS ‘SPIROS LOUIS’. 2021. MITOS PHOTOS BOX.
WEDDING DRESS
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