The 15the edition of the Toulouse MAP festival, with its ever-pluralist programming, will present the images of Nikos Aliagas in September 2024; journalist, TV host and photographer. Meet in preview.
Nikos’ Spleen – Interview by Jean-Jacques Ader
Jean-Jacques Ader: How did you become aware of the image?
Nikos Aliagas : My first emotion came when I was a child. I was born in Paris but we regularly went to Greece on vacation, to my family’s village, and there, I saw black and white photos of my grandfather, young and handsome, when he was already old. And there I understood temporality, the perception of time. I also have a predisposition to observe, to select what I see, as in a frame. Later, to encourage me, my father gave me a Kodak Instamatic. Everything I have done along my journey is thanks to a permanent photographic memory.
Then you enter journalism.
THAT: Yes, I got my press card at 19, I worked on the radio, on TV, I also framed, doing my interviews. Then, once in animation, I hesitated to continue to go behind the camera. But over time I took up photography again, I posted images on the net, I tested, I looked. My concern remained: where did this need to photograph come from? This urgency; to see a scene unfold before my eyes, to find a light, the spectacle of the world.
Do you consider yourself professional?
THAT: If by professional you mean demanding, then yes I have a requirement. The goal is not to live from it but it is a need to express something, to tell. There are many paths to take in photography. Minimalism for example, which I did not understand. In many areas the beginner tends to exaggerate, but you learn a lot by looking at an image and realizing that with almost nothing there is everything.
Your images will soon be at the MAP festival in Toulouse
THAT: I was contacted by Ulrich Lebeuf who is in charge of programming, and who found my images interesting, seeing more of them, that there was real work. So why not think about a selection to exhibit, in short, there is a dialogue that has been established between us. Then the idea of taking images here, in Toulouse, in anticipation of the festival in September. So there you go, I take photos in the street, in the markets, by feeling. Of the human, of the contact. It will be in addition to my other images selected for the MAP.
Your work is essentially in black and white, in a certain tradition
THAT: Of course. Sabine Weiss, Koudelka, Salgado, these are essential references. I love Édouard Boubat, he is a great photographer who is not recognized enough. I love all these people who manage to capture authentic moments, because in photography, the fake is visible, it is difficult to explain but it is visible when it is fake. Afterwards, there are no rules, someone like Eugene Richards whom I admire, spent years with the people he photographed to make certain series. Time, therefore, time is my first inspiration. And then everything is movement, it is the phrase of Heraclitus. This moment will not be repeated; the water of the river flows endlessly but never repeats itself.
What made you decide to show your work?
THAT: It was rather my entourage who encouraged me, and the people who knew my images who pushed me. The fact of being famous on one side blocked me a little of course, it can be more problematic than one thinks; but even if I was going expose myself and that we was waiting for meI decided it wasn’t that bad either.
What did these experiences teach you?
THAT: Choosing. How difficult it is for a photographer to choose… to find a reason to keep this one and not the other, at what point do you know that you have something interesting, or not? And interesting for whom? It’s also the others who will tell you. It takes time to see what we have to say. We come back to it, time is an ally to see more clearly, and to give people time to feel things. Take your time, the great photographers that I admire took years to find their way. Now I’m not looking for recognition at all costs, if I can tell my story already that will be good. Those who trust me follow me.
Are you interested in the abundance of all these images that are now on social networks?
THAT: At first it was very exciting of course, but in fact it is not what I am looking for. Too many images kill the image, the compilation is not very interesting. The whole world makes images but all that disappears quickly. And for all these reasons, I prefer to believe in memory. Photography is memory, it is interested in philosophy, humanity and freedom. I am free to go and photograph a deaf and mute gypsy, who lives on the lagoon of Missolonghi, and put her in the light, because I have to learn and we all have to learn things from her. She becomes our mirror. I take photos to remember, to provoke an emotion and tell stories. Among the most beautiful photos I have taken, many are those that I discovered along the way, while I was leaving for something else. Sometimes, there are extraordinary accidents.
MAP Photo Festival, in the Saint-Cyprien district of Toulouse from September 12 to 29, 2024, with free access. With among others Robert Doisneau, Letizia Le Fur, Nikos Aliagas, Jérémy Saint-Peyre, Chloe Milos Azzopardi, Louise Desnos; event-creation by Mouss & Hakim on the images of Jean Dieuzaide.
Informations : https://map-photo.fr/
