Agathe Kalfas , Mathias BenguiguiLes chants de l'asphodèle

“In order to tackle the contemporary migration crisis without resorting to the sensational iconography that the media are full of, photographer Mathias Benguigui has chosen the path of history, that of the island of Lesbos, where two migration stories exist side by side: the current one, which is on everyone’s mind, and the one that saw 45,000 Orthodox Greeks fleeing Atatürk’s Turkey in 1922 arrive on the island. The Songs of Asphodel – a mythological place where souls who have committed neither crimes nor virtuous deeds wait eternally – draws on these two historical strata. By breaking away from current events, the photographer opens up a poetic space where landscapes and portraits mingle in dialogue with the texts of Agathe Kalfas and 20th century Greek poets, and invite us into the depths of the island’s daily life.”