Eros & Thanatos
In his book ”Beyond the Pleasure Principle”, Sigmund Freud stated that human instincts are determined by two opposing forces: Life and Death. This theory not only is deeply rooted in the Greek mythology, but it has association with the Greek tragedy as well. The two contrasting forces are Eros, being the God of love and fertility thus equated to life. Where as Thanatos is the God of death. Both have appeared in the Greek tragedy either individually or dual. However, Thanatos was never been personalised.
In his photography project Vassilis Konstantinou reveals to the viewer his fascination by these two forces. He questions their nature and their impact on human drives.
Through a series of ambigious pictures, he attempts to interpret this relationship between Eros and Thanatos; Are they infinitely struggling? Is it not the human internal drive to seek fusing the two forces? Is there a moment when Eros and Thanatos merge into one another to deliver a joyful culmination? If this is the case, is it not at this specific instance that one approaches both Eros and Thanatos in their exuberant quest to plant the seed of life?
Vassilis Konstantinou was born in 1979 in Athens where he currently lives. He studied Physical Education and Sport Science in Aristotle University of Thessaloniki and Photography and Audiovisual Arts in University of West Attica (Athens). His involvement with photography started in 2007. Since then he has attended the following seminars conducted by Platon Rivellis “Introduction to Art Photography” (annual), “Photography Critique” and “Portfolio Critique”. In 2021 he completed his first short film which is titled ”Medea”.
