Hellas

Greek Light is sharp, enigmatic and famed. It has inspired many photographers, but none whose images are as instinctive and powerful as those of William Abranowicz.

In making these pictures, Abranowicz was inspired by the classic photographs of Mexico taken by Tina Modotti and Edward Weston, of Ireland and France made by Paul Strand, and also by a number of contemporary and historical writers on Greece, including Antonis Capetanakis, George Seferis, and Constantine Cavafy, as well as Seamus Heaney, Sir Patrick Lee Fermor, and henry Miller.

Louis de Bernieres, author of the best-selling Captain Corelli's Mandolin, which was set on the Greek island of Cephalonia in the early days of World War II, has contributed an eloquent and incisive introduction.

Hellas reveals a Greece far more complex than the country captured in postcards of the brilliant, blue Aegean, and white-stuccoed houses perched on rocky cliffs.

It is an honest, at times unsettling appraisal of a land with a rich and chaotic history that is also the source of much of the foundation of Western European and American Philosophy and culture. A somewhat darker and totally unique take on a familiar subject, Hellas is a book for the sophisticated traveller and Philhellene, and lover of classical photography.

It also provides an excellent introduction to this enigmatic country for those who have never been and are itching to go.