Interview to Anna Georgiadou
at the B & M Theocharakis Foundation
for the Fine Arts and Music (January 24, 2017)
Interview with Kalli Bellou
We often say that a painting looks like a photograph, but can a photograph look like a painting? It definitely can and this kind of art has a signature: Kalli Bellou. Born in Belgium, she permanently lives and creates her art in Greece. We met her and asked her to talk to us about the fantastic world of modified photography, the journeys captured in her work and her future plans.
Mrs. Bellou, what was it that made you enter the world of photography? How did you start?
I would say that it started as a game when I was 15 and my father gave me his camera. I remember that I used to take the camera with me everywhere and take photos of whatever inspired me. At that time, I didn’t realize that my camera would be “my eyes” in the next years of my life. Without realizing it, I started to live through my images. I felt that each “click” was a confirmation that I existed at that specific place, at that specific moment. It was as if I wanted to capture time. Today I can say that my camera was the vehicle for a journey of self-discovery.
By surfing your website [www.kallistigmi.gr] we realize that you have travelled literally everywhere! It probably is a “must” for your work, but it seems that you love travelling. Have you ever lived in any of the countries you have mentioned?
Travelling is my second passion after photography and when two passions meet, the result is wonderful. Indeed, I have travelled to many countries, but I have never lived in any of them. I was born in Belgium, where I spent the ten first years of my life. Greece is my land, my root. I cannot imagine myself far from the sun, the sea, or the archaeological sites. Where else can I find this light?
Besides classic photography, we know you for more complicated things. You take the “real” and turn it into something fantastic. What do you want to say to people about your art?
When I started experimenting with the pixels eleven years ago, it was mostly out of curiosity. Then, fantastic landscapes and figures started to appear, as if they had been hidden and expecting me to give them life. Was I searching for the fairytale characters I had read about, when I was a child? Was I creating fantastic landscapes that I wished to visit? This has definitely developed into something I didn’t expect: a fantastic world that gives me joy and makes me dream. If I manage through my art to make people “dream” a little more or travel to my fantastic landscapes, then my joy will be double.
We know that apart from the Theocharakis Foundation, you have occasionally collaborated with other museums and theatres as well. What should we expect from you in the future?
At the time, I’m working on my new website kallibellou.com. It will not include travel photography, but a selection of black and white photographs and artworks I created during the last four years. I feel that this presentation will be some kind of ‘revelation’ of myself to people - an invitation to my cosmos. Regarding photography, I’m working on a project about one of my favorite archaeological sites, Elefsina [Eleusis]. It is too early to talk about the concept. And finally, I will confide something I have never stated before. My fantastic world does not appear only in my artworks, but has also expanded into fantastic stories. One of them is “The red beetle”, a short story about friendship. I think I am addicted to the conception of creatures with strange appearances and bizarre names. I hope that the gift of inspiration will keep on coming and that someday I‘ll share my stories with people, young and old.
Posted by Anna Georgiadou, January 24, 2017
» Read the Greek version here: http://artshop.thf.gr/el/blog/27_-.html