Students Interviews “The Weight of the Void” - Manes Pangalos - Moments Collective

Moments Collective
6 hours ago
3 min read

Interview with Ypatia Kornarou

What does your photographic work “The Weight of the Void” explore?

The Weight of the Void explores absence as a form of presence.Images of containers once inhabited by people, abandoned houses, and empty beds stand frozen in time, carrying the invisible weight of forgotten stories.The lack of oxygen becomes a metaphor for survival under suffocating conditions, suspended between preservation and decay.In each image, the void is not merely an absence, but a persistent trace of what once existed.Light and shadow play across these deserted spaces, emphasizing the contrast between presence and its fleeting imprint.

@Manes Pangalos

Meet our Grand Sponsor Fujifilm Hellas https://www.fujifilm.gr/

What do you believe the viewer experiences when encountering your photographic work?

Each photograph confronts the viewer with the tension between memory and oblivion, inviting them to recognize the silent weight of absence.The Weight of the Void is a visual meditation on transience, intended to evoke a sense of contemplation — of what remains when the body departs, yet the space endures.

@Manes Pangalos

What impact does the photographic process have on you?Do you perceive its therapeutic quality? Does “the weight of the void” still exist?

For me, photography is much more than the act of pressing a button it is a way to express myself, to find calm and balance.Through the lens, I can see the world and myself with different eyes.I give form to thoughts and emotions that are often difficult to express in words.Yes, it carries a therapeutic power; it helps me understand what I feel more deeply, to accept what has happened, and to find peace even within the void.

Depending on what I am experiencing, I feel it differently at times quiet and liberating, at others more intense.Yet through photography, I have learned to observe it without fear; to embrace it as a part of myself that transforms and evolves along with me.

@Manes Pangalos

The Hellenic American Union presents the historical retrospective “I, Andreas Voutsinas,” dedicated to the life and work of the distinguished director, actor, and theatre teacher Andreas Voutsinas.

Monday, November 24, 2025, at 19:00, at the Galleries of the Hellenic American Union (22 Massalias Street, Athens), and will run through January 24, 2026.

https://www.hau.gr/en-us/culture

Where do you believe an artwork ultimately belongs once it is completed? Have you ever wondered?

I believe that where an artwork belongs depends on the work itself and on the intention behind its creation.Some works are born to be shared, to be seen, and to communicate something with the world; others, however, are more personal, more introspective, and belong wherever their creator chooses perhaps even in silence.Over time, each piece becomes a reflection of an emotional state, a moment that was captured and found its own space to exist.

@Manes Pangalos

I know that you often travel within Greece. What do you usually see when you move from place to place?Does travel, for you, contain the notion of displacement?

Most of my travels within Greece so far have been primarily professional, leaving little time for personal reflection.Nevertheless, the idea of travel has always fascinated me.For me, displacement is not only about the physical act of moving from one place to another; it is also an inner process a shift in perception.Every journey, no matter how small, carries the possibility of seeing things differently, of stepping back, of reassembling oneself.I have always been a restless and free spirit which is why change and movement serve as reminders that nothing remains still, neither outside nor within us.

@Manes Pangalos

https://www.nexusmedia.gr/12th-photonet-special-day/

What are you seeking through art? Through photography?

Although photography has been my profession for many years, in recent times I feel that I am searching for something more personal, more internal, through it.Professional photography and artistic creation are two completely different worlds: one aims for technical perfection and the communication of a message, while the other seeks the truth of the gaze, the emotion, the inner narrative.Through photography, I search for the silence between images, the moment when something real is revealed without needing to be spoken. Perhaps, ultimately, I am seeking ways to better understand myself.