Fairyland in Midsummer: Alexandros Georgiou invites us into his magical world, bringing it into the Rebecca Camhi Gallery

First, tell us about the highlights of your journey.

The most important moments in my journey have not been milestones so much as transformations. I began with painting, continued with photography, and for more than a decade I travelled almost nomadically throughout Asia, primarily in India and Iran. Those journeys became artworks, exhibitions, and books, but above all they became a way of seeing both the world and myself differently.

Fatherhood brought a profound shift. It led me into a more introspective period and eventually brought me back to painting. In recent years, significant highlights have included my major exhibition featuring more than 500 works at the Municipal Gallery of Athens, as well as a year-long presence at the National Museum of Contemporary Art (EMST), where I created hundreds of live animal Psychoportraits as part of the remarkable exhibition Why Look at Animals?

Tell us the story of discovering a creative path in the arts.

I was drawing from childhood, but early on I realised that what interested me was not simply the image itself. It was art’s ability to reveal something invisible. Over the years, I came to understand that every medium is simply a different tool for the same search. Whether I am photographing, writing, or painting, I am always looking for what lies just beyond the obvious.

You move between painting, visual art, photography and other disciplines. How do you maintain a balance between them?

I never think of mediums as separate worlds. Photography, painting, writing, and installation are simply different languages. What remains constant is the desire to tell a story, convey an experience, or give form to something that occupies me on a deeper, more personal level.

What do you consider your most important achievements?

I am most proud of projects that have managed to create genuine human connection. The Soul Portraits and their recent presentation at EMST are examples of work that did not remain confined to the gallery wall but instead generated relationships between people, animals, and stories.

What stories does your new exhibition at Rebecca Camhi Gallery tell?

Fairyland in Midsummer is a world inhabited by creatures, spirits, and transformations. It exists somewhere between innocence and melancholy, light and darkness, companionship and solitude. The titles of the works form a continuous narrative, like a fairy tale unfolding throughout the exhibition.

What does your photographic participation in the Athens Photo Festival include?

I am presenting selections from the series Cut Outs and Without My Own Vehicle. These works were created during different periods of my life, yet they converse with one another through themes such as loneliness, travel, the search for identity, and the sense of belonging.

What do you receive from international audiences?

Although the starting points of my work are often deeply personal, people recognise their own emotions within it. I have experienced this both in Greece and abroad. Cultural differences certainly exist, but the need for connection, tenderness, and meaning is universal.

What has openness to the world given you?

It has given me people. The journeys, exhibitions, encounters with strangers, and the Soul Portraits have all become raw material for my work. I do not believe in isolated creation. My art is born through encounters and human connection.