Month: July 2013

Akovos/Arkadia

These are some black and white photographs from the pictures that I took from my fathers’ village of Akovos in Arcadia, Greece. He’s so proud! He was happy that I finally went there. It’s not an easy feat getting up there though.. In a earlier post I had published photographs of the Arcadian mountains and of a memorial service for a revolutionary battle that took place in the 19th Century.

Wild Mountain Flowers

Lonely Burnt Tree

Cars Parked on a Cliff

Aghia (Saint) Paraskevi Church

Small VIllage Path

Village Grannie (Giagia Panayoula)

Charybdis and Precious Time/Χάρυβδις και Ο Πολύτιμος Χρόνος

Paper collage on 40 x 40 cm canvas
By Angela Zafiris

When I began making my artwork I had no idea what the theme would be i just worked from intuition placing images together on the canvas. When I was done, I decided that I was going to call it ‘Precious Time’ since I used jewels and faces of watches. That same day I was on the internet when I cam across an article n about mythological creatures. One creature that caught my attention was that of Charybdis. In Greek mythology Charybdis was the daughter of Poseidon and Gaia . She was once a beautiful naiad who was turned into a sea monster by Circe, a witch, who was extremely jealous of the maiden. Charybdis is the personification of a whirl pool in the ocean that sinks Greek ships. She is referenced in Homers’ ‘The Odyssey’ where Odysseas is faced with Scylla (another monster) and Charybdis in a narrow strait and where Scylla took the lives of some of his crew men.

Was it mere coincidence? Fate? Whatever it was I just thought it was so odd how I came across this mythology that I wasn’t very familiar with on the day that I was to name and publish my artwork on my site. Artwork that might have been inspired by the mythology but was not-or maybe it was… perhaps subconsciously?

Falling Out Of Love

Illustration 24 x 32 cm on canvas by Angela Zafiris

Arcadian Mountains/Battle of Drabala

A few weeks ago I paid a long overdue visit to my fathers’ village called Akovos in Arcadia. The village has a very beautiful and rugged mountainous landscape where many battles were fought in ancient and modern times. I arrived on the day of a memorial service that takes place every year at Aghia Paraskevi church (near Akovos village) which over looks the landscape called ‘Drabala’ A very important battle took place at the site called the ‘Battle of Drabala’ ( June 5-7 1825) This is where the fierce battle for Greek independence against the Ottoman Turks unfolded. To commemorate the death of the soldiers wreaths were layed at the statue of Greek independence war hero Theodoros Kolokotronis. Then there was a moment of silence followed by Greek soldiers singing the national anthem.