Secrets, 2009-2013


With the series Secrets, Antoniadis goes back to more familiar practices: he inserts on the backside of authentic handwritten manuscripts studio poses of young people shot and printed in black and white - apart from the patina of aged paper. But unlike the faded, incomplete pages, the body posture, the minimalist clothing and the hairstyles in the portraits bear a contemporary stamp. The ghostly-like paper “findings of unknown origin” that bear on the reverse side “handwritten dedications, dates, names,” survive with obvious signs of wear from frequent acts of unfolding. Who are these people? In what private rituals are these images involved? Antoniadis’ palimpsests hint at the implicit incongruity between the deterioration of the material and the contemporariness of the subject.