TITLE: "In Absentia"

“People fear death even more than pain.
It’s strange to me that they fear death.
Life hurts a lot more than death, the pain is over.”

-Jim Morrison

It is fear that brings man to pray.
It is a blank wall.
It is a door to another world.
This is me facing it.
This is freedom.
​


This series was created during my travels in Greece in August-October 2017. It was my first return in seven years, and I was on my way to visit my aunts and cousins and my 92 year old great grandmother. The very day of my flight my great grandmother found peace in rest. It wasn't sudden, but this didn't change the agony that shook the very ground beneath our feet. My first day on the island of Chios was spent at her funeral, where I kissed her for the first and last time in seven years. The first of the two months I spent with my family was difficult. I believe these events subconsciously altered what I began photographing. This series was not intentional. When I developed these 120 rolls I found a certain quality within each image that all resonated with one underlying key theme: Death. Death is the ultimate fear. What do we become after it? What can we do to ensure that we end up okay? Is it going to hurt? All of these questions seemed to answer themselves as each print came to surface. If we are not afraid of death, we are not afraid of anything.

AUTHOR: Anastasia Fasnakis (United States)

I am an emerging photographer based in Connecticut. I graduated in 2016 with a BFA in Photography. I am mainly a film photographer, and one of the things I love about photography is the process. I often shoot with medium and large format cameras and I love to work in the darkroom. I find great value in raw photography and I exercise this in my landscape, architecture, and figure work. I have devoted most of my life to exploring the natural world and man's relationship to it. The vehicle for my search for answers is the photograph. I wish to free viewers from their trained eyes and lift them into new heights of self-awareness by encouraging each to relate to nature and to further explore the human mind, body, and soul. My work is an attempt to find a common language with some light and a lens.