Society

How many different ways are there to present a
‘high society’ social event?
Endless, especially if only using frozen still frames,
immobile images that make it easier to enter a
parallel world. We have established stereotypes,
cultivated in a one-dimensional way, through
which such events are usually portrayed: semiexclusive
gatherings, galas, parties, receptions,
openings and ‘events’ of any kind –and the often
ingenious ways that the photos in this exhibition
create cracks in these stereotypes (but without
demolishing them) is what makes them not only
typologically interesting but fully captivating,
even when they give rise to certain less noble
feelings. These are not professional photographers
who cover corporate, celebrity & social
events or uninvited amateurs that take advantage
of the endless possibilities of paparazzistyle
hit & run guerilla tactics, but photographers
who are not in a strict, pre-decided work assignment
– photographers with an artistic viewpoint
and the sensitivity to make their ‘subjects’ look
vulnerable and transparent.
Their gaze – penetrating yes, but melancholically
soft- isolate the – not always unaware subject –
placing it often outside the setting in question,
whether a debutant or an old connoisseur of the
celebrity microcosm. The two photographers’
lenses were there: not as outsiders, not as eyewitnesses,
penetrating but not rude, choosy but not
snobbish, in control but not distant. The images
do not portray people but personality features
recognizable to all of us and when put together
they look like a peculiar photographic album of
the dysfunctional ‘family of the socialites’.
DIMITRIS POLITAKIS