Photographers - Part 34

 Kostis Fokas

Kostis Fokas is a gay Greek photographer born in Athens in 1979.  This portrait is unusual because he avoids photographing faces, including his own.

More typical is this self-portrait.  He likes using mirrors to create unusual views of the body.

Here's another self-portrait in the mirror.

This was untitled, but I'm guessing it's also a self-portrait.  Talking about how he got started in photography, he said, "I started photographing myself. At that time my body was my only tool. I used it as an empty canvas, placed naked in front of my camera."

Regarding his not showing faces, he said, "I believe faces give the specific identity I would like to avoid. I don’t think that the bodies in my work need the faces to be complete. ... We live in a society where our identity determines us to a great extent. I want in my pictures the protagonist to be more free, not any labels, not gay or straight."

Regarding nudity, he said, "What I really want to achieve is to reward the naked body and disconnect from the sexual concept. A naked body or two naked bodies interacting can be a lot more than porn. For me the naked bodies in my work is more of a reference to the beauty and dynamic of the body. Much more about the depiction of ancient Greek statues."

The nudity in his photos is often oblique or indirect, like the view above through a beach umbrella.

Or this unusual perspective, where the photographer is shooting from below into a mirror that the model is holding upside-down.

Or the nudity may be playful or whimsical, like this swimmer who somehow has a shadow of a mermaid ...

Or this view of a peacock feather ...

Or this "face," which is ironic, since he almost never photographs actual faces.

His photos often imply sex, but never actually show it, like this photo of bulges ... 

Or this guy who looks like he's trying to have sex with his TV ...

Or this suggestive composition of bodies.

I was surprised to learn that Fokas has also done photography for films.  We end with a clip from the trailer of a 2018 German film "Er Liebt Mich" (He Loves Me), for which Fokas was the cameraman.