Photography Exhibition “MY SERIFOS 1986-2026”

ArtLab presents a selection of photographs by the internationally renowned artist Vanna Karamaounas.

The duration of the exhibition will be: July 1 –  July 23, 2026
Operating hours: Mon-Sun 10:00 -14:00 / 18:00 – 22:00
The opening night of the exhibition will take place on Saturday, July 4 at 20:00.
Looking forward to meeting you all at Artlab!

There are places we choose, and others that call to us.
Serifos is one of the latter.
When I discovered the island in the fall of 1985, I entered a world that was almost untouched. The island was still unspoiled by time: there were no asphalt roads or infrastructure, only paths, donkeys, the wind, the rocks, and the sea. A raw, silent, inhabited land. The impact was immediate, almost intimate – like a sense of recognition.
Since then, Serifos has become a place of refuge. Not an escape, but a homecoming. On this island shaped by labor, mining, and the harshness of the elements, I find a form of truth that resonates with my history, the memory of exile, and a deep longing to reconnect with the Greek land.
Here I build, I live, I love. The years lay down their layers : familiar faces, simple gestures, the priests, the churches, the whitewashed walls, the ever-present insects…
Mineral landscapes bathed in light.
A relationship takes root, patient, almost organic.
Serifos then becomes a sanctuary – not apart from the world, but at its very heart. A place to return to, again and again, every year for the past 40 years, to rediscover a form of Essential.
The photographs presented in this exhibition do not seek to describe the island; rather, they bear its imprint. I have been exploring this theme in my work for decades. Resonating deeply with the rest of my body of work, my images of the island lift the veil on this place that continually inspires me.
Comprised of memories, silence, light, and matter, Serifos emerges through these images as a living presence – a land that is inhabited as much as it inhabits, a place where the gaze rests and where something continues to vibrate in gentleness.