This is an exceptional show covering forty years of images of Paxos and Paxiots by local and foreign amateur and professional photographers showing the evolution of the island and its inhabitants from the early years of tourism to today.

For the first time Friends of Paxos will be presenting the black and white prints of British photographer John Claridge who first visited the island in 1976. These and the even earlier images from the 1960s of local photographer Manolis Vlahopoulos reveal the inexorable changes brought to the island by the development of the last forty years. Most fascinating are the portraits of Paxiots through three generations as revealed in the photography of Vlahopoulos, Claridge and Tina Merandon.

This is how John Claridge remembers his stay on the island in 1976:

Fifty years ago, having read some of the history of island of Paxos, I decided to pay a visit. Stepping off the ferry I expected to enter a magical island, I was not disappointed. Walking across the quay from the ferry I was tempted to stop at a taverna. I asked for an ouzo, that was my first mistake. Well, not the first drink, but the several that followed. I had indeed reached the magical island.

During the following few days I met some wonderful people. As well as experiencing local food and wine, I experienced in the bays and caves that abound this beautiful island. Sadly I could only spend one week on Paxos as I had an assignment in India. These photographs are just a few observations I would like to share with you.

John Claridge, August 2024

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Following their presentation at St Carthage Cathedral in Lismore, Ireland in May-June 2024, eight prominent Irish ceramicists - Isobel Egan, Sinead Fagan, Jane Jermyn, Ann McBride, Marcus O’Mahony, Eileen Singleton, Kathleen Standen & Bernadette Tuite – will be exhibiting in the company of their Greek colleagues - Ilias Christopoulos, Mirka Drapaniotou, Manos Kalamenios, Haroula Koropouli, Iosifina Kosma, Ifigenia Tsirou, Giorgos Vavatsis - in Paxos from 5 July to 18 August 2024.

The same artists will also be exhibiting at the Courthouse Arts Centre in Tinahely, Ireland in August 2024. The project for these three exhibitions - bringing together contemporary Greek and Irish ceramicists in a dynamic creative dialogue - was initiated last summer in an exhibition held in Paxos for the fifth edition of the annual Irish festival of Paxos – Irish Wings, 2023: “Irish and Greek Ceramic Art in Paxos” (Old Schoolhouse, Loggos, 14 July – 8 August 2023). Since 2017 the Irish Wings festival, under the direction of Kathryn Baird, has brought important Irish contemporary musicians, poets, writers and artists to Paxos in events and exhibitions attended every year by an enthusiastic international audience and by the Irish Ambassador to Greece.

This is a unique opportunity for a Greek and international audience of Paxos to discover the variety in form, texture, colour, technique and expressivity of contemporary Irish and Greek ceramics.

Curated by Chris Boïcos and Jane Jermyn.

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