BOOK:Athos-The Colors of Faith, Agra Publications

“Men are not born in Holly Mountain” with this phrase Stratos Kalafatis begins the preface of his book “Athos – the Colors of Faith”, A project that took 25 visits to Mount Athos in a period over 5 years and ended with the publishing of the self-titled album from Agra Publications (144 photographs in 200 pages). Stratos Kalafatis selects the square format to give his version of the landscape and the people in this particular area. A difficult format because there is no dominant axis, but in his hands gives an excellent dynamism, escaping from the stereotypical images that someone is expecting from a religious center, presents details, landscapes but mostly the people of this male society. He captures with his lens the everyday life in the monasteries, the calm gaze of the monks and their social and hierarchical relationships. His images balance between contemporary photography and the paintings of Delacroix and Gericault, both in his landscapes, especially at night and the portraits of people that emerge from the photow and reveal their personality. An album that must find it place in our library.-Dimitris Lempesis