Chris Doulgeris – Me and Andy

What motivated you to participate in this exhibition?
I was myself an immigrant with my family in West Germany in the ’80s, so I lived first hand what it means to leave your homeland and immigrate to a foreign country with all that entails. This personal experience abroad influenced me a lot and my participation in the exhibition was a good occasion and a great opportunity to present images that were directed with exactly the purpose of this thematic unit of stereotypes about the movement and migration of peoples.

How does this work convey to the audience the message of inclusion, respect and tolerance?
In this series I photographed myself in the familiar space of some immigrants friends from Albania. The presence of the creator among them signals and creates symbolism in which people have much in common with each other and above all respect the culture of other people. People in the 1990s received a lot of negative messages from the media that influenced and formed a negative image of immigrants from the neighboring country. So, I wanted to support some of my immigrant friends and I thought of coexisting with them in the image to give them courage and strength.

Does Art have the power to raise awareness against racism and lead societies towards equality and acceptance?
The art of photography and image in general has become really relevant as never before.
Social media today influences and transmits millions of messages at the same time at an incredibly fast pace having almost replaced television and print. Photography is the protagonist of this information machine and can really affect the audience directly and effectively, as long as this function is done in the right way. Then yes, of course, and it can have positive effects on raising the awareness of our fellow citizens against racism, xenophobia, and many other social problems of our times.
Photography as a visual medium has a huge impact and power and may be the medium that significantly affects the largest number of people and especially young people. Xenophobia is a scourge of our times, its effects lead to isolationism and prejudice. The concern of artists must be elimination.

Bio
Chris Doulgeris lives and works between Athens, Greece and Dusseldorf, Germany. He studied Sociology at the University of Crete, Photography at the Camberwell College of Arts in London and is a member of the Art Chamber of Greece.
His work focus on magic realism, photographing either details of abstract and urban architecture or familiar portraits from his daily environment. The notions of land and identity are recurring subjects of his work. His first exhibition record in Germany was “The secret life of the machines” in Duesseldorf, a group show together with the painter Konrad Klapheck and the sculptor Willem Harbers, curated by Gerard Goodrow. He has enjoyed more than fifty museum and gallery exhibitions both nationally and internationally.
Chris Doulgeris has collaborated with several curators including: Dr.Kyriakos Koutsomallis, Maria Maragou, Dr. Thalia Vrachopoulos (Ph.d.), Vagelis Ioakeimidis, Gérard A.Goodrow, Domna Gounari, Giannis Bollis, Sozita Goudouna, Megakles Rogakos, George Georgakopoulos, Stavros Kavalaris, Nina Kassianou, Wilko Austermann, Marinos Tsagarakis, among others.
Christophoros is represented in Greece by Donopoulos IFA Gallery /Thessaloniki.

 christophorosdoulgeris.com
  Chris Doulgeris
 chrisdoulgeris

Η έκθεση Tolerance(s) είναι προγραμματισμένη να παρουσιαστεί στην Αθήνα και στη Νορβηγία, στο πλαίσιο των εκδηλώσεων του έργου “Art and Culture vs Xenophobia // Τέχνη και πολιτισμός ενάντια στην ξενοφοβία“, το οποίο αντιμετωπίζει, με εργαλεία τις τέχνες και τον πολιτισμό, τα φαινόμενα της ξενοφοβίας και της ρητορικής μίσους, που αναπτύσσονται σε περιβάλλον έλλειψης συμπερίληψης και ανοχής για τον Άλλο. Το έργο υλοποιείται στο πλαίσιο του προγράμματος Active citizens fund, με φορέα υλοποίησης την Artifactory και εταίρους το Ås Art & Music School του Δήμου του Ås στη Νορβηγία και το “Baumstrasse – Ο Δρόμος με τα Δέντρα“. 

Το πρόγραμμα Active citizens fund είναι μέρος του χρηματοδοτικού μηχανισμού του Ευρωπαϊκού Οικονομικού Χώρου (ΕΟΧ) περιόδου 2014 – 2021, γνωστού ως EEA Grants. Το πρόγραμμα στοχεύει στην ενδυνάμωση και την ενίσχυση της βιωσιμότητας της κοινωνίας των πολιτών και στην ανάδειξη του ρόλου της στην προαγωγή των δημοκρατικών διαδικασιών, την ενίσχυση της συμμετοχής των πολιτών στα κοινά και την προάσπιση των ανθρωπίνων δικαιωμάτων. Τη διαχείριση της επιχορήγησης του προγράμματος Active citizens fund για την Ελλάδα έχουν αναλάβει από κοινού το Ίδρυμα Μποδοσάκη και το SolidarityNow.

Περισσότερες πληροφορίες: www.activecitizensfund.gr