Communion with monks. Photographs by Kostas Argyris from Mount Athos, 1991-1995

Climbing to the Peak of Mt Athos for a Feast-Day Celebration, 1993

Exhibition dates: 28 March – 30 May, 2004

A photographer in a community of monks

“I began taking photographs on the Holy Mountain at Easter time in 1991. I spent five years photographing monks in their spiritual setting. I photographed without cease. I became gradually more accepted; I was witness to their day to day routine, I made an even more truthful record of he community of monks, without becoming a member of it, yet without being excluded from it.

My cell was on the upper floor of Saint George of Kalathas in Karyes, a square building with an inner courtyard, such as an old inn might have. In the courtyard was a vine producing black grapes and a stone cistern with constantly flowing water. My neighbours and fellow residents were Taleas the grocer, Father Daniel the tailor, and Nikos who furnished building materials. I cut up firewood for the ancient Russian stove that heated the kelli. The rain drummed on the corrugated iron roof, and when it blew a storm I stuffed the cracks with newspaper. I lived by the light of paraffin lamps or of candles made by the monks themselves. Kalathas was overrun by cats; they were all over the balconies and stairways, in the courtyard - Just everywhere. I developed my films in the laboratory set up by Father Ioustinos and myself. It enjoyed a view of Mount Athos and over the gardens of Karyes.

How much of a place with a thousand years of history can you manage to see in he space of five years? You leave the Holy Mountain as you arrived on it: calmly, humbly, and alone. You sense that something is missing from your baggage; you know you will be back to resume your photographing...”

Elders after a Church Service. Karyes, 1991

Photographer Kostas Argyris (Chalkis, Greece, 1961) studied Humanities in the University of Thessaloniki. He lives in Thessaloniki and works as free lance photographer and artistic designer. He worked on Mount Athos as an accredited photographer and as curator of the Mt Athos Photographic Archive.

His work from Mt Athos has been shown in Thessaloniki, Greece (Museum of Byzantine Culture, 1997); Nice, France (Gallerie Renoir, Month of Photography/Biennale 2000); Skopelos, Greece (Photographic Center, Biennale 2001), Thessaloniki (Museum of Cinema, 2001), Bratislava, Slovakia (Gallery Quo Vadis, Month of Photography, 2002), Veroia, Greece (Choros Technon, 2002).