Artist
Josef Janošík
Josef Janošík (b. 1995) is a photographer based in the Czech Republic. In his work, he searches for and relives his childhood memories – however corroded and unreliable they may be. Exploring the limits of human perception is important for him in general as well as the elusive uncertainty that lies behind them.
The Territory
Over the past few years, I have been revisiting places where I grew up or just spent a lot of time as a kid, trying to make sense of their meaning to me and find the forgotten sentiment. Not only by my physical presence at these places, but also indirectly through the pictures of them taken by a camera. Which is, in fact, comforting in a way. To let go of control to a certain degree and leave the photographic apparatus to do the work instead. And maybe discover something hidden that may not be visible with a naked eye.
We first met Greek photographer and architect Stefania Orfanidou at a bookmaking workshop. Her delicate compositions and intriguing images play like music when laid out on pages.
Meanwhile, Ioanna Sakellaraki is another talented Greek artist with whom we’ve been familiar for some time. Her first monograph, The Truth is in the Soil, deals with personal issues, mourning and Greek society: subjects that are close to our hearts.
Another of our nominees is Czech photographer Josef Janošík, whose dark body of work resonates greatly with Void’s aesthetic interests. In his work, Janošík returns to half-forgotten childhood memories, and to the places where his childhood was spent.
Greek artist Dafni Melidou has a similar sense of creativity and experimentation in her work. Though currently unpublished, a number of her series – like The fossils, the ashes and other remains of existence – have the right ingredients for an intriguing photobook.
Beyond our base in Athens, Void also operates a small branch in Reykjavík, Iceland. With this in mind, we were keen to showcase a local artist; Þórsteinn Svanhildarson caught our attention with his touching portraiture of local youths, as well as with his beautiful book production.