I have always believed that photography begins where words fail. When I saw Giannis Giannatos’ photographs from Mount Athos, I felt that truth again. The exhibition is called Beyond the Visible, and it carries his work from Thessaloniki to Strasbourg.
Giannatos is not only a photographer but someone who understands how to weave vision into culture. He is known for his black-and-white imagery, carefully composed and cinematic. In this project, he spent two years on the Holy Mountain. He moved quietly among monks, workshops, and chapels, looking for the gestures that usually go unseen. A hand breaking bread. A courtyard in silence. The light just before dawn.
This body of work was later entrusted to the Holy Great Monastery of Vatopedi, which published it as a bilingual photographic book, Beyond the Visible: Visual Narratives from the Vatopedi Monastery and Athos. Giannatos’ reputation has also grown through international recognition, such as the Black and White Spider Awards, where he received honorable mentions.
The exhibition began in Athens earlier this year at the Zappeion, and on September 27, 2025, it will open in Thessaloniki at the Government House (Ministry of Macedonia–Thrace), in the presence of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew, who will be in the city for a pastoral and cultural visit from September 26 to October 1, according to Orthodox Times.
His attendance matters. It places the work in the heart of the Church, where art and faith meet, and it shows that photography can serve not just as cultural memory but also as spiritual offering. Two days later, on September 29, 2025, the exhibition will be shown in Strasbourg, France, at the Council of Europe. The initiative is organized by Vatopedi Monastery with support from the Aigeas Foundation.
Mount Athos itself is bound by limits. Women are not allowed entry, and even men must apply for a special permit. As a woman photographer, I cannot walk those paths myself. I will never stand in that light, or hear that silence firsthand. And yet through Giannatos’ images, I feel a connection. It is not the same as being there, but it carries something essential: the rhythm of faith, the weight of tradition, the stillness of devotion.
That distance is what makes this work powerful. It is not spectacle. It is a quiet rhythm of faith, art, and culture, balanced in tones of black and white. By removing color, the images give space to light and shadow, gesture and silence. They invite us to see with greater attention, to notice the hidden movements that shape monastic life.
As someone who teaches photography, I see in this work the patience of presence. Giannatos does not force the image. He waits. He listens. He allows the moment to arrive. This is the discipline of looking, and it is also the gift that the viewer receives.
For Greeks abroad, there is a different layer. To see Athos through these images is to reconnect with a spiritual geography that is part of our heritage, even if we never set foot there. And to watch the work move from Thessaloniki to Strasbourg is to witness how our culture is shared with the world, intimate, austere, yet profoundly human.
Mount Athos – Beyond the Visible is not only a photography exhibition. It is a reminder of what it means to see with humility, to stay with a place long enough for it to reveal itself. For those of us far from Greece, it offers a glimpse into the life of the Holy Mountain through an artist’s patient eye.
Written by Vasiliki Eleftheriou, photographer and director of Photoglobe in Thessaloniki. She writes about photography not as a distant observer, but as someone who has spent a life practicing presence with the camera. This exhibition reminded her why we create images: to look more deeply, and to share that way of seeing with others.
Please confirm event details with the organizers before attending, as dates, times, locations, and registration information may change.