Artist Statement

The idea for a performance based slideshow started 11 years ago together with the start of the journey of 11x11. Lomef journeyed through diverse countries over those eleven years -- the Baltic Sea, Czech Republic, Poland, Sicily, Turkey, Portugal, Iceland, Finland, Spain, Berlin, and the coasts of the North America -- revisiting many of them on multiple occasions. The resulting photographic journals—inspired by the notebooks and the storytelling of the original travellers as well as the adventures of Tintin and Asterix—are a mixture of action and descriptive scenes. At the same time, they portray the evolution of the photographer through the years, from Black and White to colour, from paying homage to the styles of Henri Cartier Bresson and Robert Frank, to his more personal storytelling images.    

The 11x11 project was initially presented as a book and an exhibition in the Bodhi gallery in London, November 2008. Then Lomef met composer Aris Lanarides and the first discussions about the music of the slideshow were initiated. Having worked for almost a year and with the creative collaboration of beat boxer Tobias Hug and mezzo soprano Louisa Barry, the current concept for the show was born.    There are 11 different musical themes written specifically for the 11 journeys of the project. Composer/Guitarist Aris Lanaridis, the Mezzo-Soprano Louisa Barry and Beatboxer/vocalist Tobias Hug are performing segments of the soundtrack live and adding improvisational elements. For the final set of images (American photos), Tobias provides a thumping beatbox that leads into a short jam session, the other musicians joining him.  

Photography, text and direction: Thanasis Lomef Zacharopoulos Music and Arrangement: Aris Lanaridis Mezzo-Soprano: Louisa Barry Voice and Beatbox: Tobias Hug. Lafta: Theo Lais Sound Engineer: Theo Stournaras

Artist Bio

Lomef (the ‘camera name’ of Athanosios Zacharapoulos) became involved in photography in 1990, in his small hometown in the north of Greece. He has never officially studied photography, but instead has used all the empirical information he could come across, from his local photography store owner to Magnum photographers, and had his debut show with 11x11 in London (November 2008). He has also published two books of his photography, Miro Arriba (2003) and 11x11 (2008). He has been working as a freelance photographer, a teacher of photography, and a Researcher in Medical Imaging, where he combines applied mathematics with his love for visual information. In November 2009 together with four musicians and a poet he presented 11x11 photographic journals, a music slideshow based on his project. April 2010 was invited to Samara, Russia to participate into the disorientation project and exhibition. He has lived in London for the last 10 years, but since 2010 started a two-year project in Crete, Greece.

For further information please see www.lomef.net