10 Greek Posters

Artist Unknown

These posters are part of a group of about 100 I collected in 1997, when my wife Beth was a visiting professor at Aristotle University in Thessaloniki, Greece. That year, Thessaloniki was designated the Cultural Capital of Europe. Cultural events occurred throughout the year, and I am sure I attended at least one every other day during the six months we lived there. Posters were displayed at almost every event and, naturally, I had to collect them. Luckily, friends at the Cultural Capital Headquarters saved me copies of posters I somehow missed.

My time in Greece and Slovakia coincided with the opening of East and West relations in Europe. Back then, westerners had just begun to develop an interest in Eastern photographs. I was invited to Bratislava, Slovakia, during that time, where I attended a photo festival. This Photo Festival inspired me to establish a bi-annual photography festival in Madison, now known as Photo Midwest.

That was also the year I met Annie Leibovitz, a famous American portrait photographer, as well as several artists who eventually came to exhibit their work at Promega. I was fortunate enough to spend days in Bratislava with Annie, as most people there did not know of her fame.

Daniel Swadener and Annie Leibovitz, Slovakia, 1997