Britton and I wanted to go to Turkey for the day but there was a boat strike and B is going back to California tomorrow so instead we decided to shoot in the sea for fun.

We took a road trip to Eressou birth place of Sappho and now days, its a lesbian retreat. We met Bandit and Sarai at a party where they were performing. We got to spend some quality time with them. Visit their MySpace page and check out their tunes:

http://www.myspace.com/nopcmusic

and their website:
http://www.opctown.com/

here are some party pix from the night:

Chris and I spent the day with Osman Mohammed (in above picture), Abdula Joseph, Osman Ali Adam, Abdifatah Rashiid, Kamil Ahmed, Ali Hussen and Dayib Adulgadir. Refugees originally from Somalia. Their journey to Athens took 2 years; working and migrating through Yemen, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Oman, and Turkey before seeking asylum in the EU. Since Greece was their country of entry their chances of being able to live anywhere else in Europe is slim. Chris asked Dayib (who learnt English washing cars and spoke with great proficiency) what he would do with unlimited financial resources, his only answer was “to not be here” in Greece where the culture in general displayed an immense hostility towards them, especially the police.

It was quite an amazing juxtaposition for me to work with these courageous men in the cradle of western civilization and to then hear news of unregulated free market capitalism debauchery and a $700,000,000,000 corporate bailout.

We had just finished dinner with Lavina and her friends. Chris spotted a young man with punk style listening to an MP3 player. Asked him what he was listening to… and before I knew it they were listening to each other MP3″s (Chris had an ipod). The young man’s name was John. He was hanging with his friends…. 18, left home. Spends his nights on the streets and sleeps during the day. Chris and John talked… I photographed his friend.

We kicked it with John and his friends for a good 2 to 3 hours. He told us about the Neo Nazi scene, the politics of the police, and the challenges he faced. I showed him some of the grafitti I had photographed and he recognized one of the pieces as the work of one of his friends and showed us another one of his works:

visit him if you like:

http://www.myspace.com/romvos77streetpunk

Chris Jones just arrived in Athens… now with him and my sister (two of my favorite people) we’re gonna get some work done… then off to Lesvos to install our show.

had to try a sheep’s head Greek style. have to say, cool experience. meat in the cheek bone was the best… the eyes were tough to swallow. I could have chowed down more of the brains if I had a little salt and pepper.

plus some pix from the meat market.

Dirty. Loud. Awful street smells, riot police patrolling the night streets. Refugee problem out of control. Man snorts heroin in front of me. Couple sit embraced in catatonic state. This was Omonia Square. And on the walls between the Acropolis and this place of despair, street works stood stronger than the ruins of what was once the Western frontier.

here are a few interesting works and to see more… visit the photoblog and enter keyword: graffiti.

Arrived in Athens. Spent the day walking around, getting a feel for the city. Loving the heat compared to London. Here are a few images from the day… To see more, search keyword “Athens” in the photoblog