#BCreative Artist Q&A - George Poulakis

We had a chat with artist George Poulakis to talk about his most recent exhibition 'Unique Edition (and the spectrum of human experience)', inspiration and what to expect from the exhibition.

Describe yourself in one sentence:

I’m the kind of person who gets anxious at the thought of having to sum himself up in a single sentence.

What is your chosen medium(s) and why?

I’ve been a photographer for almost 20 years now. I could pretend that’s because I like the immediacy and accessibility of the medium, but really it’s because I can’t paint.

What/who inspires you?

My latest body of work contains 16 images which answer that question. So I guess that’s a 16,000 word answer for you. Hope I didn’t exceed the word count.

Tell us the back story of your Exhibition?

In 2019 I was on an artist residency in Assisi, Italy. I was having difficultly working on the themes I set out to explore, and just needed to shoot something fun as a distraction. That’s when I captured “Fran”, which became the first image of what turned out to be a 4-year project.

What do you want people to take away from your Exhibition?

I’d love for people to take a print home. I think it would look great on your wall, don’t you?

Who are your favourite artists?

Duane Michals, Gregory Crewdson and David LaChapelle are amazing photographers. But I’m also heavily influenced by film, particularly anything by Charlie Kaufman and Michel Gondry.

What do you see yourself doing in 10 years?

I’ve just started teaching high school media arts, which isn’t a sentence I ever thought I’d hear myself speak. So I guess in 10 years I’ll be complaining about all the assignments I have to mark, and muttering something about TikTok or whatever new app the kids will be using that I’ll pretend to understand, while reminiscing about how I used to be relevant.

Instagram: @georgepoulakis_iphoneography