21/03/2025
This Friday's feature is Pavlos Kozalidis!
Meet Pavlos Kozalidis: "Photography is my Therapy, it’s the Only Thing that helps me quite my overthink mind,to give certain kind of peace…"
"I remember my first trip from Tyflida during a cold morning. I boarded on a broken down Russian bus. It was full of faces, Georgians, Russians, Abkhazians and Greeks from that region. It took us all day to reach our destination; a village in the middle of nowhere. Bathed in darkness, the only light to be seen came from the full moon. Tens of dozens of rooftops shimmered like silver trinkets against the moonlight. Before I could get off the bus I could hear them arguing between them in pitch black for who was going to offer me shelter that night. As I remember feeling ashamed to ask them for something to eat since I could see in the faint candle light their own needs. As I settled in I was asked if I wanted some tea or coffee, and to my astonishment they filled a table with all sorts of local food such as cheese that I had never seen before, honey all sorts of jams, sausages, bread and whatever else they could muster up from their kitchen. I never had experienced such hospitality throughout my travels. After-the next day I was told to stay with the village priest, smart reason being that he was aware of what was going on in the area, to his flock: he knew about new weddings, baptisms, funerals and many of those and other social events. That was very important for me but I soon found out that that was the only time we got to eat something more than just potato for weeks on end.
I consider myself extremely lucky to have had this wonderful experience and to hear my grandmothers tongue spoken so deep in the Caucasian mountains.
And importantly to have met such caring and openhearted people as this Pontic Greeks!
Now I share with you this images and a kind of poetic struggle and happy moments that my camera captured."
His photobook, "Searching for a lost homeland" (limited amount first edition book, signed by author) is still available: you can order it from here: [email protected] or you can dm on instagram.
More of Pavlo's work can be seen here: https://www.instagram.com/pavloskozalidis/
