ELENI LAPARIDOU - In Remembrance
It is with the utmost sadness that I write to say BA Alumni, Eleni Laparidou passed away on Sunday 29th July 2018. Despite putting up a huge fight she lost her battle with cancer, her good heart finally stopped.
She was a beautiful person who represented the best in all of us, a kind heart and well loved member of the class of 2015. She graduated that year with a BA Professional Photography degree creating a great body of work, including the Bell Bearers series, interviewed online, collaborating with the French Film Festival, BIPP Scotland Awards 2014 & 2015, Hellenic Photographic Society Award 2015 and winning the AOP Student Awards 2015 best in category for her fashion work. Exhibited her work at The Printspace London, Summerhall Edinburgh, City of Glasgow College, Free Range, Exposed Out of the Blue, Teviot Row House Edinburgh, and Film House Edinburgh. Published in The British Journal of Photography - July 2015.
We will always remember her fondly as a kind and gentle person, always with a smile, a promising and talented photographer, a joy to teach. She will be sadly missed by all those who knew or met her. I'm sure we all have fond memories and stories to tell about her generosity, kindness and the support she gave others. Our thoughts are with her family. Farewell Eleni, may you rest in peace.
Her achievements will live on.....we can still see the world through her eyes.
The Bell Bearers
"This is a photographic project examining an ancient custom that is still alive today in the area of Drama in Northern Greece. The custom of the ‘‘Koudounoforoi’’(bell bearers) is a folklore tradition that is believed to be connected to the worship of Greek Gods and a possible residue of ancient rituals in honor of the God Dionysus, the Greek god associated with wine, euphoria, pleasure and festivity. The men of the village dress in hand- made costumes of leather and fur and they wear bells of different sizes. The bells make an incredible noise and it is believed that they are used to frighten the evil spirits and to awaken nature to the coming of spring. The performances are also intended to encourage agricultural fertility, to honour Mother Earth and to welcome the New Year. The performances take place in several villages in the municipality of Drama, with different costumes in each. In this series you see costumes from four of the different villages".
(c) Eleni Laparidou
(c) Eleni Laparidou
(c) Eleni Laparidou
AOP Award
"Two years ago, I organised a fashion shoot with props from three different charity shops. The aim of the brief set by the AOP was for the viewer to be surprised when they learned that the props came from a charity shop.I won the AOP product Shots Award and had the opportunity to exhibit my work at the Print Space Gallery in London.Two years later, I am delighted to see my work part of the Retina Scottish Photography Festival which will open to the public from 18th June-15th July at Summerhall in Edinburgh. After the exhibition at Summerhall, the exhibition is travelling to Glasgow College where it will be installed from 17th-30th July.Here, you see two of the images(not the winning ones) from the day of shooting with the lovely Mairi".
(c) Eleni Laparidou
(c) Eleni Laparidou
