ELEFTHERIOS KOSTANS
PONTOS CULTURE
A CONTEMPORARY VIEW OF BLACK SEA CULTURE
1994-2010
PONTOS CULTURE
A CONTEMPORARY VIEW OF BLACK SEA CULTURE
1994-2010
EXHIBITION DATES:
December 17th, 2010 to January 15th, 2011
WHERE:
Consulate General of Greece in New York
69 East 79th Street New York, NY 10021
This exhibition is made possible in part by:
- THE PAN PONTIAN FEDERATION OF USA AND CANADA
- A.H.E.P.A (*American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association) Washington, DC
- Colour Works Photographic Service - Wilmington, Delaware
- Pontian Society "Akritai" of Philadelphia, USA
- Polivios Hareras Family - Philadelphia, USA
- Cary Mossaidis Family - Philadelphia, USA
Original Pontian cuizine provided by the Association of Pontian Ladies of Norwalk, Connecticut and The Ladies Auxiliary of the Holy Institution of Panagia Soumela.
CONTACT:
ELEFTHERIOS. KOSTANS@GMAIL.COM
KOSTANS.TUMBLR.COM
610-574-9873
Biography
ELEFTHERIOS KOSTANS
(Eleftherios Konstantinidis)
Eleftherios Kostans was born in Katerini, Greece, in 1964, to Greek-Pontian parents, one of whom was a refugee from Krasnadar, in southern Russia. At age six months, Eleftherios, with his parents, Elia and Eleni, together with his brother, John, emigrated to the United States on a ship named the Christopher Columbus, and settled in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, a Greek-American community west of Philadelphia. A few years later, his sister, Maria, was born.
After graduating high school and attending community college, Kostans discovered photography and went on to graduate from the Art Institute of Philadelphia.
Although his parents rarely discussed family history, Kostans was curious about his birthplace and heritage. In 1994, at age 29, he returned to Greece and stayed several months exploring his ancestry, village life, and Greek-Pontian history. While there, at the edge of his family’s home town Katerini, near a tobacco field, he found the small shack where he was born. At that moment, the urge to learn more about his Greek-Pontian heritage was rekindled.
While attending the religious celebration of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary at the Greek Orthodox Monastery of Panagia Soumela, in Veria, Greece, he was astonished to see people from all over the world, with a common cultural bond, come to this holy site to pray and celebrate the holy day. He came to appreciate the significance of the services and the diverse gathering. Returning to the United States with memories of what he saw at Panagia Soumela, Kostans was determined to explore his family history and cultural connection to Hellenism in greater detail. For several years thereafter, he returned to Greece and then went further east into Turkey, specifically the Eastern Black Sea region of Pontos.
There, he found his grandparents’ village and began to photograph the Pontian Muslim community. Ancient Greeks had colonized and settled this region of the Black Sea nearly 3000 years ago. Forced religious conversions, population exchanges, and genocide at the beginning of the 20th century left these Pontians, many of whom speak ancient Greek today (recognized as Pontian), virtually unknown. Kostans was astonished to find that in the West, there was only minimal contemporary documentary photographic work on the history and culture of these people.
For more than 15 years, Kostans has continued to photograph the people of the Black Sea region (historically known as Pontos) in the United States, Turkey, and Greece—exploring both daily life and historical and religious sites. His documentary photographs have appeared in many exhibitions, including at Yildiz Palace, Istanbul,Turkey;
Widener University, Chester, Pennsylvania; A.H.E.P.A congressional banquet, Washington, D.C., and various Pontian community centers in Canada and the United States. This exhibition is his first public showing of his work in New York.
Currently, Kostans is a staff photographer at Swarthmore College in suburban Philadelphia, a monthly contributor to Amastris magazine of Greece, and a regular contributor to Pontos World.com and AHEPA magazine. He first worked as a contract photographer for the Philadelphia Inquirer and was a freelance correspondent to Sipa Press in New York. His work has appeared in a variety of news and educational publications around the world.
Kostans understands that photography is a powerful educational tool that can bring light to the Pontian culture that has lain dormant for decades, if not centuries. He continues to document Pontian culture in North America, Greece, and Turkey, with plans to explore it further in Germany, Russia, Georgia, and the Ukraine. With his extensive collection of photographs, he plans to publish a book that will capture Pontian culture around the world and show an ancient people in transition.
Artist Statement
Without a Homeland or a History: The Pontic People of the Black Sea ‘Pontic Greeks…will not lie down. They are perhaps the most astonishing of all survivors. But some seek a history, some seek a homeland, and some both.’ Anthony Bryer. Professor, Institute of Archaeology & Antiquity , University of Birmingham, UK.
When I think of the Pontic people of the Black Sea, whose homeland is distant from its ancient roots and whose history is denied by modern political forces, these are their greatest differences.
By documenting their celebrations and culture, which crosses all sorts of borders and boundaries, I hope to provide visual evidence that they are one, regardless of faith or nation.
Three thousand years ago, Hellenic culture came to the shores of the Black Sea. Because this region was Isolated by mountains on one side and an inhospitable seacoast, a remarkable well preserved archaic Greek culture evolved and climaxed at the beginning of the 20th century. With the formation of the new nation-state of Turkey out of the former Ottoman Empire—and after war with Greece—Christian Pontians were forcibly and often violently expelled, while the Muslim Pontians were allowed to remain. The exodus and genocide of the Christian Hellenic-speaking peoples began and Turkish nationalism took hold. For some 80 years, it has been a taboo in Turkey to discuss this aspect of the past—and who the Pontian people really are until now.
Pontic culture lives on in Turkey, Greece, around other parts of the Black Sea and the world. It has even been embraced as part of the national folklore identity as being Turkish. Dance, music, food, and other cultural habits have been absorbed and shared in the region by many—including ethnic Turks. But the Greek language, Christianity, and the shrouded history of the region have been left behind—another piece of the puzzle that is Turkish identity. In Turkey’s Pontic villages, it is generally forbidden or frowned upon by the Turkish state to speak the ancestral language, Pontian Greek, (most closely linked to Ionian Greek). The nationalistic identity continues to be non western, non-Hellenic.
Modernity, including the Internet, possible ascension into the European Union, and foreign educations are changing things in Turkey. Relations with the West are forcing Turkey to show more tolerance for other faiths and other peoples. Educated young Turks are creating relationships outside of their country and wanting to be more and more Western.
With all of this taking place, these photographs of Pontic culture from Greece and Turkey become a way for people to examine their own lives; ask questions about their own identity, history and culture inside and outside of their boundaries, speeding the process of reunion with their own and reconciliation with the rest of the world. Little known to the west, Pontic culture, which is rooted in Hellenism, is a bridge between East and West, a piece of the global puzzle of man and history. As a Greek American immigrant of Pontian decent, exploring our culture has left me questioning my own identity and place in the world; Am I Eastern or Western? When ever I return home to America, from these journey’s, I find myself immediately longing for these places, peoples and the exotic traditions of our Pontian spiritual culture .
After graduating high school and attending community college, Kostans discovered photography and went on to graduate from the Art Institute of Philadelphia.
Although his parents rarely discussed family history, Kostans was curious about his birthplace and heritage. In 1994, at age 29, he returned to Greece and stayed several months exploring his ancestry, village life, and Greek-Pontian history. While there, at the edge of his family’s home town Katerini, near a tobacco field, he found the small shack where he was born. At that moment, the urge to learn more about his Greek-Pontian heritage was rekindled.
While attending the religious celebration of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary at the Greek Orthodox Monastery of Panagia Soumela, in Veria, Greece, he was astonished to see people from all over the world, with a common cultural bond, come to this holy site to pray and celebrate the holy day. He came to appreciate the significance of the services and the diverse gathering. Returning to the United States with memories of what he saw at Panagia Soumela, Kostans was determined to explore his family history and cultural connection to Hellenism in greater detail. For several years thereafter, he returned to Greece and then went further east into Turkey, specifically the Eastern Black Sea region of Pontos.
There, he found his grandparents’ village and began to photograph the Pontian Muslim community. Ancient Greeks had colonized and settled this region of the Black Sea nearly 3000 years ago. Forced religious conversions, population exchanges, and genocide at the beginning of the 20th century left these Pontians, many of whom speak ancient Greek today (recognized as Pontian), virtually unknown. Kostans was astonished to find that in the West, there was only minimal contemporary documentary photographic work on the history and culture of these people.
For more than 15 years, Kostans has continued to photograph the people of the Black Sea region (historically known as Pontos) in the United States, Turkey, and Greece—exploring both daily life and historical and religious sites. His documentary photographs have appeared in many exhibitions, including at Yildiz Palace, Istanbul,Turkey;
Widener University, Chester, Pennsylvania; A.H.E.P.A congressional banquet, Washington, D.C., and various Pontian community centers in Canada and the United States. This exhibition is his first public showing of his work in New York.
Currently, Kostans is a staff photographer at Swarthmore College in suburban Philadelphia, a monthly contributor to Amastris magazine of Greece, and a regular contributor to Pontos World.com and AHEPA magazine. He first worked as a contract photographer for the Philadelphia Inquirer and was a freelance correspondent to Sipa Press in New York. His work has appeared in a variety of news and educational publications around the world.
Kostans understands that photography is a powerful educational tool that can bring light to the Pontian culture that has lain dormant for decades, if not centuries. He continues to document Pontian culture in North America, Greece, and Turkey, with plans to explore it further in Germany, Russia, Georgia, and the Ukraine. With his extensive collection of photographs, he plans to publish a book that will capture Pontian culture around the world and show an ancient people in transition.
Artist Statement
Without a Homeland or a History: The Pontic People of the Black Sea ‘Pontic Greeks…will not lie down. They are perhaps the most astonishing of all survivors. But some seek a history, some seek a homeland, and some both.’ Anthony Bryer. Professor, Institute of Archaeology & Antiquity , University of Birmingham, UK.
When I think of the Pontic people of the Black Sea, whose homeland is distant from its ancient roots and whose history is denied by modern political forces, these are their greatest differences.
By documenting their celebrations and culture, which crosses all sorts of borders and boundaries, I hope to provide visual evidence that they are one, regardless of faith or nation.
Three thousand years ago, Hellenic culture came to the shores of the Black Sea. Because this region was Isolated by mountains on one side and an inhospitable seacoast, a remarkable well preserved archaic Greek culture evolved and climaxed at the beginning of the 20th century. With the formation of the new nation-state of Turkey out of the former Ottoman Empire—and after war with Greece—Christian Pontians were forcibly and often violently expelled, while the Muslim Pontians were allowed to remain. The exodus and genocide of the Christian Hellenic-speaking peoples began and Turkish nationalism took hold. For some 80 years, it has been a taboo in Turkey to discuss this aspect of the past—and who the Pontian people really are until now.
Pontic culture lives on in Turkey, Greece, around other parts of the Black Sea and the world. It has even been embraced as part of the national folklore identity as being Turkish. Dance, music, food, and other cultural habits have been absorbed and shared in the region by many—including ethnic Turks. But the Greek language, Christianity, and the shrouded history of the region have been left behind—another piece of the puzzle that is Turkish identity. In Turkey’s Pontic villages, it is generally forbidden or frowned upon by the Turkish state to speak the ancestral language, Pontian Greek, (most closely linked to Ionian Greek). The nationalistic identity continues to be non western, non-Hellenic.
Modernity, including the Internet, possible ascension into the European Union, and foreign educations are changing things in Turkey. Relations with the West are forcing Turkey to show more tolerance for other faiths and other peoples. Educated young Turks are creating relationships outside of their country and wanting to be more and more Western.
With all of this taking place, these photographs of Pontic culture from Greece and Turkey become a way for people to examine their own lives; ask questions about their own identity, history and culture inside and outside of their boundaries, speeding the process of reunion with their own and reconciliation with the rest of the world. Little known to the west, Pontic culture, which is rooted in Hellenism, is a bridge between East and West, a piece of the global puzzle of man and history. As a Greek American immigrant of Pontian decent, exploring our culture has left me questioning my own identity and place in the world; Am I Eastern or Western? When ever I return home to America, from these journey’s, I find myself immediately longing for these places, peoples and the exotic traditions of our Pontian spiritual culture .
ALL IMAGES ©ELEFTHERIOS KOSTANS 2010
