Ιn the little Greece that remains for us, the only thing you can still do is pray to your gods’ Odysseus Elytis, Idiotiki Odos
This “little Greece” that you find in remote island churches on rocky mountain footpaths is what Eugenie Coumantaros depicts in her collection of 40 photographs entitled “Beyond White”. These photographs will be exhibited at the Museum of Cycladic Art for the first time. The exhibition will run from 10 February until 15 March 2012 in the Stathatos Mansion and is accompanied by a 96-page book in Greek and English.
The exhibition calls upon viewers to recollect their own experiences while seeing the quintessential Aegean chapel in a new light. The contemporary rendering of these abstract photographs captures the ‘breath of an eternal faith’ in a unique and ethereal way, simply and stunningly. White chapels. Temple, sacred space. Shadows on white, colored light; choices in the frame create a balance between light and shadow such that simple architectural forms converse with the sea, with the sky, with the air. The viewer -depending on his individual experiences and his mood- will discern the variations in the hues of light and take a spiritual journey “Beyond White”.

A few words about the artist

Eugenie Coumantaros studied English Literature at Princeton University with a minor in Photography. Since 1989 she has photographed and written documentary essays for the Greek Press, helped to found Odyssey magazine and produced annual reports and corporate brochures for greek companies. Currently she is working on personal projects in the Aegean: “A Humble Paradise”, a collection of b/w images, was exhibited in Tinos at the Ursuline School, Loutra in 2008  and at the Museum of Marble Crafts in 2009, at the PhotoBiennale 2010 in Thessalonika organized by the Thessaloniki Museum of Photography, and in Sparta at the Annex of the National Gallery until the spring of 2012. “Beyond White” is her latest personal project

to 18/3/2012

MUSEUM of CYCLADIC ART