The Desire for Consciousness

These images have no titles and no captions to guide you about what to see or how to perceive their content. There is no text to recreate the missing context.

In these images it’s impossible to determine the time, the place or the circumstances under which the photo was taken as the black background deprives us from any other information that would help us locate its subject in the real world.

In this way, relocated in a virtual space, the depicted object somehow loses its “realness” and tends to represent the meaning of it, it becomes an idea and it is transformed into a symbol.

Although the operation and the meaning of a symbol are predetermined in this series I create new symbols and invite the viewer to give them meaning by reading them literally or metaphorically. In my mind these images work in coherence, like a deck of cards that tells a different story every time it’s shuffled, raising questions about how differently each one of us interprets the same stimulus and therefore how diverse interpretations can occur when meanings are not fixed but depending on the ever changing context and every individual viewer.

A cow emerging from complete darkness in The Desire for Consciousness, transformed into an uncanny and mystical animal symbol without a fixed time, place or context.

Exposed tree roots resembling a suspended heart or body against black in The Desire for Consciousness, symbolizing nature, consciousness and interconnected life.

A cracked antique mirror isolated in darkness in The Desire for Consciousness, a symbolic image of fractured identity, self-perception and unstable meaning, available for editorial licensing.

A veiled or draped human hand emerging from blackness in The Desire for Consciousness, an ambiguous and mystical symbol open to literal or metaphorical interpretation.

A waterfall isolated against a black background in The Desire for Consciousness, removed from the real landscape and transformed into a symbol of flow, change and consciousness.

A white cloud or mass of smoke suspended in darkness in The Desire for Consciousness, a symbolic photograph evoking thought, spirit, mysticism and impermanence.

Two surveillance cameras isolated against black in The Desire for Consciousness, a symbolic editorial image about observation, control, perception and consciousness, available for licensing.

The dark backs of two circular road signs isolated against black in The Desire for Consciousness, transformed from functional objects into ambiguous symbols without fixed meaning.

A circular view of sea, mountains and sky surrounded by black in The Desire for Consciousness, a symbolic editorial photograph about perspective, escape and the construction of reality, available for licensing.

installation views

Installation view of The Desire for Consciousness within the “Photo-Graphē” group exhibition at the Benaki Museum, Athens, in 2018.

2018 / Installation view of the group show “Photo-Graphē” at Benaki museum Athens, Greece.

Circular seascape photograph from The Desire for Consciousness displayed among other works at the “Photo-Graphē” exhibition, Benaki Museum.

2018 / Part of “Photo-Graphē” group show at Benaki museum Athens, Greece.

The veiled-hand photograph from The Desire for Consciousness displayed in the “Photo-Graphē” exhibition, where objects become symbols through changing context.

2018 / Part of “Photo-Graphē” group show at Benaki museum Athens, Greece.

Book-cover display featuring the mystical veiled-hand image from The Desire for Consciousness, used for The Seventh Garment by Eugenia Phakinou.

2018 / Part of “Photo-Graphē” group show at Benaki museum Athens, Greece.

Cover of “The seventh garment” book by Eugenia Phakinou

Book cover featuring the circular seascape from The Desire for Consciousness, used for Mikra Anglia by Ioanna Karystiani and displayed at the Benaki Museum.

2018 / Part of “Photo-Graphē” group show at Benaki museum Athens, Greece.

Cover of “Mikra Agglia” book by Ioanna Karystiani

Installation view of the symbolic tree-root photograph from The Desire for Consciousness in “The Vision of Saint Void” at Depo Darm Gallery, Athens.

2017 / Installation view of group show “The Vision of Saint Void’’, Depo Darm gallery, curated by Kiriakos Spirou, Athens, Greece

Exhibition detail of the tree-root image from The Desire for Consciousness, resembling a suspended heart or body against a black virtual space.

2017 / Installation view of group show “The Vision of Saint Void’’, Depo Darm gallery, curated by Kiriakos Spirou, Athens, Greece

A deck of cards displaying symbolic images from The Desire for Consciousness, designed to create different narratives and meanings whenever the cards are rearranged.

2017 / Installation view of group show “The Vision of Saint Void’’, Depo Darm gallery, curated by Kiriakos Spirou, Athens, Greece

Installation view of The Desire for Consciousness at the 2017 Whitelight Showcase at SHED London, presenting symbolic photographs without fixed captions or meanings.

2017 / Part of “ Whitelight showcase”, SHED London, curated by Ellie Tsatsou & Gelly Siganou, London, U.K.

Exhibition detail from the Whitelight Showcase at SHED London, where images from The Desire for Consciousness invite individual and changing interpretations.

2017 / Part of “ Whitelight showcase”, SHED London, curated by Ellie Tsatsou & Gelly Siganou, London, U.K.

The cow photograph from The Desire for Consciousness reflected within an oval mirror during the 2016 “Back to Athens” exhibition.

2016 / Installation view of group show “Back to Athens”, multiple venues at Exarchia, curated by Maria Xypolopoulou, Athens, Greece

Three symbolic photographs from The Desire for Consciousness—shattered glass, exposed roots and a cow in darkness—displayed at the Benaki Museum’s Depression Era exhibition.

2014 / Installation view of “Depression Era project”, Benaki museum, Athens, Greece

Installation view of The Desire for Consciousness at the 2014 Depression Era exhibition, showing symbolic images whose meanings shift with context and the individual viewer.

2014 / Installation view of “Depression Era project”, Benaki museum, Athens, Greece