Jul 16, 2011
Humble Herbs, Rustic Roots
There is something about the herbs of Greece: They're sprouting with the insolence of the race, haphazardly and defiantly, surely against all odds. They're fragrant with a rustic honesty that is superior to artificial pretence. And they stand best when they stand proud on a most formal of setting: a wedding procession.
Shot on the island of Sifnos, Greece, summer 2011. Click to enlarge.
Photo copyrighted by Elena Vosnaki
Jul 14, 2011
Colour me In
The sparkling background of the white-washed church brings out the pastel hues of this wedding guest's outfit. Greek women shouldn't be afraid of colour. Or fresh fragrant flowers in the hair.
Shot on Sifnos island, summer 2011. Click to enlarge.
Photos copyrighted by Elena Vosnaki.
Jul 8, 2011
The Continuity of Greek Elegance
fresco from the palace of Knossos, Crete, Greece, at the Heraklion Archaeological Museum,
15th century BC
mature Greek woman attending a wedding on the island of Sifnos, Greece, summer 2011
Jul 7, 2011
Jul 6, 2011
Craziness Street
The signpost reads: "Craziness Street: You can walk this street fearlessly. We own it." Indeed we do.
As seen on Apollonia, Sifnos island, Greece. Summer 2011.
Picture author's own, copyrighted by Elena Vosnaki
Jun 29, 2011
Two Statues: "It was for them we fought"
George Seferis, the Nobel prize poet (and Greece's ambassador to London in the 1960s) wrote of a beloved leader of the revolution, General Makriyannis; Makriyannis had no formal education and in his old age taught himself to read. In his battling days he had been able to preserve two ancient statues until the liberation. At that time he found that some soldiers were thinking of selling them.
Seferis quotes Makriyannis: "I took these soldiers aside and told them this: You must not give away these things, not even for ten thousand talers; you must not let them leave the country; it was for them we fought".
And Seferis wrote: "You see it is not a great scholar, nor an archaeologist speaking. It is a shepherd's son from Roumelia, his body covered with wounds: 'It was for them we fought'.
~from the memorandum submitted by Jules Dassin to the British Parliament (on occasion of a plea to return the Elgin marbles)
On this fateful day, may we remember "it was for them we fought" and not be swayed by false dilemmas and hyenas: where one head gets cut off, two spring up again. You must burn the cancerous in order to get rid of it once and for all.
Further reading:
Makriyannis: The Memoirs of General Makriyannis 1797-1864 (ed. & trans. H.A. Lidderdale), Oxford: OUP, 1966 (in English).
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