©Yorgos Efthymiadis, Costas:T, installation

The Lighthouse Keepers, an ongoing series by Yorgos Efthymiadis that began in 2018, depicts the cherished people and homes of the seaside communities of Greece where he grew up. I first saw the images in person at Gallery Kayafas in Boston, MA in February of this year, where Efthymiadis has made his new home in the United States. The exhibition opened in Boston only a few days after the legalization of same-sex marriage across the nation of Greece. Efthymiadis is well known for his project the Curated Fridge which celebrates photography by showcasing a juried selection of postcard-sized prints from photographers around the world on his humble kitchen fridge.

This series evolved from a previous body of work titled “There Is a Place I Want To Take You,” which retraces a hollow sense of memory down paths and roads he once traveled in his youth in Greece, that now feel tinged with change. Both bodies of work hold a sense of contemplative absence. The images of his friends and family in Greece reflect hindsight of their impact on his life which is now physically disconnected from home. The landscapes of these people have also changed with time. The figures hold a hushed presence within each image, often peering away from the camera, which heightens an impression of emotional detachment from their surroundings. They are not exactly stuck in a daydream, but perhaps lingering where the past intersects with the present. The photographs are clustered like constellations to merge the identities with their spaces, becoming an entangled story that is drawn together through repeating symbols, oscillating forms, reflections, and horizon lines.

©Yorgos Efthymiadis, Yorgos Z, installation

Efthymiadis depends solely on available light to punctuate his compositions. The images embody the fascination of the world through walking with a camera in hand. Efthymiadis has a keen interest in how our surroundings memorialize experiences and time, using his own experiences to resist impermanence by savoring the details of the every day with monumental care. The Lighthouse Keepers highlights the complexities queer individuals face in balancing identity and culture within their community. The exhibition’s title implies strength and stability through tradition—and the inherent tensions between self-preservation and belonging. The portraits include aunts, friends, and elders within the communities that sculpted Efthymiadis into the artist and individual he is today.

The photographs are successful in articulating the sense of distance between him and his subjects, both globally and emotionally, often by obscuring their identity and stitching them into a larger cultural identity. The prints are meticulously detailed, inviting viewers to lean in and linger, to bask in the warmth and sincerity of delicate connections. Other sunlit scenes simply depict windows, gates, and walls that convey the history of the homes, emphasizing the growth of plants and crawling shadows stretching across the space. Bottles filled with countless seashells, original mid-century furniture, and Christian crosses adorning the interior walls seem untouched for generations. In this town, residents rarely leave, and the glimpses of ocean horizons through the corners of the homes evoke a sense of isolation or captivity.

©Yorgos Efthymiadis, Stelios Z Christo, installation

©Yorgos Efthymiadis, Mirsini A, installation

Efthymiadis is a photographic storyteller who feels the importance of interconnectedness within the world, which is a simple concept, but one that holds a lot of weight since many people often feel so isolated. The photographs feel like when a thought starts to emerge after sitting in uninterrupted silence. The people in the photographs are careful listeners. He does not over-explain in artist statements or captions his connections to the photographs, but it is apparent that those layers are there in his diligence of the details. He humanizes the iconic Greek landscape by photographing the walls and windows that limit their view of the world—perhaps preventing the subjects from fully engaging with it. Collectively, the images hold an admiration imbued with care and admiration for queer individuals, as well as compassion for those who influence their lives. Efthymiadis composes a palpable stillness in each image by carefully focusing on domestic scenes and the intimacy of human connections, all bathed in tender sunlight.

©Yorgos Efthymiadis, Fotini O Maria O, installation

©Yorgos Efthymiadis, Sofia O, Installation

©Yorgos Efthymiadis, Christos E, Installation

©Yorgos Efthymiadis, Renata_P ,Installation

©Yorgos Efthymiadis, Anastasia K Costas E, Installation

©Yorgos Efthymiadis, Popi S, Installation

©Yorgos Efthymiadis, Maria_P, Installation

©Yorgos Efthymiadis, Installation Kayafas Gallery, Boston

©Yorgos Efthymiadis, Installation Kayafas Gallery, Boston

Yorgos Efthymiadis is an artist/curator from Greece who resides in Somerville, MA, and a board member of Somerville Arts Council. An awardee of the Artist’s Resource Trust A.R.T. Grant in 2024, a finalist for the 2017 Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowship, and the recipient of the St. Botolph Club Foundation 2017 Emerging Artist Award, Efthymiadis has exhibited nationally and internationally and is represented by Gallery Kayafas in Boston. In 2015 he created a gallery in his own kitchen, titled The Curated Fridge. The idea behind this project is to celebrate fine art photography and connect photographers with established and influential curators, gallerists, publishers and artists from around the world through free, quarterly curated calls.

Follow on Instagram: @yorgosphoto  @thecuratoredfridge

Douglas Breault is an interdisciplinary artist who overlaps elements of photography, painting, sculpture, and video to merge spaces both real and imagined. His work has been collected, published, and exhibited nationally and internationally, including at the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, the Czong Institute for Contemporary Art (South Korea), Space Place Gallery (Russia), the Bristol Art Museum, the Rochester Museum of Fine Arts, Amos Eno Gallery, and VSOP Projects. Breault has been an artist in residence at MassMoca and AS220 and was awarded the Montague Travel Grant to study in London and Paris in 2017. Douglas is a professor of art at Babson College and Bridgewater State University, and he has been a guest critic at MassArt, Wellesley College, Kansas City Art Institute, and the Slade College of Art, among others. Douglas is the Exhibitions Director at Gallery 263 in Cambridge, MA. He received his MFA from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts University and a BA in Studio Art from Bridgewater State University, and he currently divides his time between Boston, MA, and Providence, RI.

Follow on Instagram: @dug_bro