Artist
Vassilis Triantis
Vassilis Triantis (b. 1975) is a Greek photographer based in Amsterdam. He comes from a scientific background and after completing a doctorate in medical biology, he turned to photography which he now combines alongside his career in medical research.
His practice explores themes of isolation and identity, the juxtaposition of collective and individual, communication versus segregation. By using small narratives he wants to shed light on ways we affect and are affected by artificial social and physical environments.
He has exhibited in The Netherlands and abroad and his work was included in The New Dutch Talent catalogue of 2017 from GUP magazine, and in the Encontros da Imagem 2017 festival program, while his project Point of View was shortlisted for FotoFilmic18.
Roses grew on snow
My parents in law Gustaf and Asta, settled in the Icelandic village of Laugaras in 1968. They have been growing flowers in greenhouses ever since and lived there for already four generations now.
For 10 years Gustaf and Asta persisted with the family business, however this is not attainable any more due to debts that have been amassed to keep the greenhouses alive and they will have to give up their property and move out of the area.
The Icelandic bank crash in 2008 and the ensuing shift of Icelandic economy towards tourism, that ensured a fast but uncontrolled financial growth, brought about a swift change in Icelandic life that is reflected in the story of the Saelands . Reykjavik is attracting more and more people to support the explosion of tourism leaving a haemorrhaging countryside withering.
Through the story of the Sealand family, the series is portraying a declining lifestyle against the backdrop of the tourism industry explosion after the 2008 crash and a shift in Icelandic society away from traditional values.
1 1/2 Life
'1 1/2 Life' was shot during home isolation in Amsterdam and it approaches the COVID-19 pandemic from multiple perspectives; from the science behind it, to its psychological, social, financial and political consequences. The selected images deal with scientific aspects of what the virus is, how it spreads, how it can be detected and confined, what were the consequences of the isolation on the perception of one's self and one's surroundings, the danger of stigma and surveillance that is arising in the aftermath, but also questioning what the identity and shape of that aftermath will be.