Illustration & design for
Arkitas SA
Wood Processing Company
2007 desk calendar
“Acritic Images”
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Εικονογράφηση & σχεδιασμός
επιτραπέζιου ημερολογίου 2007
“Ακριτικές Εικόνες”
για την εταιρία
Akritas AE
Εταιρεία Επεξεργασίας Ξύλου
click on the gallery above for a larger view
Οι Μύθοι στον καιρό μας ζουν μέσα στο ομογενοποιημένο ζυμάρι της κινηματογραφικής και τηλεοπτικής παραγωγής. Εκεί και οι ήρωες, που έθρεψαν το παρελθόν των λαών, μεταλλαγμένοι τώρα. Δεν αναγνωρίζονται ευκολα με τη μεταποίηση και μετάταξη που έχουν υποστεί, είναι όμως οι ίδιοι, έστω κι αν αλλάζουν ρούχο, φύλο, τόπο, χρόνο, δράση. Σκαλίζοντας τους Ακριτικούς Μύθους, μια δεξαμενή απίστευτου πλούτου, λυπήθηκα που αυτή η κληρονομιά βρίσκεται παροπλισμένη σε λαογραφικά αρχεία, αποξενωμένη και αχρείαστη, πόσο μάλλον που ένιωσα να διαθέτει σφυγμό, ενέργεια και ομορφιά. Ποιοί είναι τελικά οι φυσικοί αποδέκτες αυτού του θησαυρού; ποιοί επικοινωνούν μαζί του; Τι μπορεί να φαντάζεται ένας σύγχρονος ακούγοντας τα κρητικά τραγούδια για τον Διγενή; Τι σημαίνει γι ‘αυτόν ένας ”φύλακας των άκρων” ένας Ακρίτας δηλαδή; Τα Ακριτικά Τραγούδια, χιλιόχρονα και βάλε, νικώντας το χρόνο, έφταναν ολοζώντανα σχεδόν ως τις μέρες μας. Το ποιητικό έπος του Διγενή είναι και το πρώτο λογοτέχνημα που χρησιμοποίησε τη λαϊκή γλώσσα, ”το πρώτο γραπτό μνημείο της νέας ελληνικής φιλολογίας” όπως το χαρακτήρισε ο Λίνος πολίτης. ποιός το διαβάζει σήμερα; Δεν μπορεί να τα βάζει κανείς με την εποχή του, έστω κι αν είναι εποχή αμνησίας, που ξεπουλά εύκολα ρίζες, ιστορία, κληρονομιές, ακόμα και το ίδιο του το όχημα της γλώσσας. ωστόσο θα πρότεινα στον καθένα μας μια ”βουτιά” που και που σε τέτοιες δεξαμενές όπως των Ακριτικών Τραγουδιών, για να ξεφύγει λίγο από την άγευστη σαλάτα της σύγχρονης καταναλωτικής μυθοπλασίας. Οι εικόνες που φιλοξενούνται εδώ, γεννήθηκαν από μια τέτοια ”βουτιά ” και ας θεωρηθούν μικρή συνεισφορά στην, πολύ φτωχή δυστυχώς, Ακριτική εικονογραφία.
Η βιομηχανία Akritas, που συμπληρώνει φέτος τριάντα χρόνια δυναμικής παρουσίας στηυ Ακριτική Θράκη, αφιερώνει το ημερολόγιο αυτό με τις πρωτότυπες ζωγραφικές συνθέσεις, σε όλους εκείνους που αγωνίζονται σπρώχνοντας τη ζωή στο καλύτερο αύριο, χωρίς να εγκαταλείπουν τις ”Θερμοπύλες” των αρχών τους.
Α. Καναβάκης
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Myths in our time live in the homogenized dough of film and television production. Where the heroes who served the past are now deviants. They are not easily identified after the processing they’ve undergone, but they are the same, even if they’ve changed clothing, sex, place, time, action. Digging up the Acritic Myth, a reservoir of profound wealth, I regretted that this heritage lay dormant in folklore archives, alienated and unused, a Myth that I felt it possessed pulse, energy and beauty. Who are the natural recipients of this treasure after all? Who’s communicating with it? What does someone imagine by listening to the Cretan songs about Digenis today? What does an border guard mean to him, an Akritas? The Acritic Songs, more than a thousand years old, timeless, are almost alive today. The poetic epic of Digenis is also the first literary work that used the popular language, “the first written monument of the new Greek literature” as Linos Politis described it. Who’s reading it today?
One cannot oppose his own time, even if it is a time of amnesia, which easily sells out roots, history, legacies, even his own language. However, I would suggest to each of us a “dive” from time to time in such wells as the Acritic Songs, in order to escape a little from the tasteless salad of modern consumer fiction. The images, were born from one such “dive” and may they be considered a small contribution to, a very poor unfortunately, Acritic iconography.
The Akritas industry, which this year celebrates thirty years of dynamic presence in Acritic Thrace, dedicates this calendar with the original painting compositions, to all those who struggle pushing life to the best tomorrow, without abandoning the “Thermopylae” of their principles.
A. Kanavakis
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2007
Acrites were guards of the Eastern border during the Byzantine Empire. The wood company Akritas is located close to the eastern border of Greece, hence their name. This calendar is inspired by Byzantine stories, Acritic myths which speak of the deeds of famous heroes, such as Digenis Akritas and praise their actions. So each month has an illustration based on a different myth. The company was also celebrating it’s 30th anniversary. The calendar has 14 free standing cards placed inside a transparent pocket. • Το ημερολόγιο της εταιρίας Akritas είναι εμπνευσμένο από τους Ακριτικούς Μύθους. Κάθε μήνας και μία πρωτότυπη εικονογράφηση βασισμένη σε ένα μύθο. Η εταιρία γιόρταζε και τα 30 χρόνια παρουσίας της στο χώρο. Το ημερολόγιο έχει 14 ελεύθερα φύλλα που στηρίζονται σε μία διάφανη τσέπη.
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Concept & Original Illustrations: • Ιδέα & Εικονογράφηση
Anakreon Kanavakis • Ανακρέων Καναβάκης
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Design: • Σχεδιασμός
Marina Kanavaki • Μαρίνα Καναβάκη
anmar 
What a wonderful project to undertake. The illustrations are fantastic and I can see that they tell the stories very well. The Acritic myths are not known in the west like so much of the history of the Byzantine Empire. Most people in the west forget that the eastern half of the Roman Empire thrived for a thousand years after the fall of the western half of the Roman Empire in 476 CE.
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So happy you liked it, Tim. We really enjoyed doing it. Alot of research and care went into this calendar. 😉 You are right, not many people know about this part of history. Do you like reading history books?
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I’m into medieval history. I am presenting a paper at a virtual conference for the Northeast Modern Language Association about three hours from now. This paper is on La Llorona, the history and development of her legend from the 16th Century to present. The organizers had to go virtual this year because of lockdowns. Otherwise, I would have been in Philadelphia, PA presenting my paper. I hope the International Conference on Construction Grammar that is scheduled for August in Antwerp, Belgium doesn’t go virtual. Laurie and I are presenting papers in that conference. It got postponed for a year last year. The whole point behind conferences is going to difference cities and different countries and meeting different people. It’s not the same in a virtual Zoom environment
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I’m seeing this 3 hours later which probably means you’re already at that virtual conference. I hope you’re having fun and your presentation gets lots of praises!
Here’s to the next one being live and not virtual! 😉
Meantime, I’ll go check on La Llorona!
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I just finished. It went well. My paper got put into a group called “Writing Pain: From Sade to Scarry, and Beyond”. The other papers were on women’s sexual masochism. I thought my paper was misplaced. It was originally in a folklore category and got bounced to pain. Hmmm.
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What odd titles!!!! I am an ignoramous on these conferences but it sounds like folklore is being intentionally shaded just like tradition. All part of erasing history, but that’s a long conversation.
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There were groups that were specifically folklore. But there were probably a lot more papers on folklore than there were on pain and sexual masochism. Since I’m an independent scholar not associated with academia, my paper does not rank very high compared to professor’s and grad student’s papers when placing it into groups.
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What can I say…
still, it’s highly illogical, as Spock would put it! 😉
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…I mean , more on La Llorona. I remember you photo!
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I did the parody La Llorona you might recall: https://wp.me/p1yQyy-4Uc
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Owwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!
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Brilliant, rich in the lore and wonderfully executed. LOVE!!!!
Now, I have more ideas for PBH & AGM stories! What luck to see this post.
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Ah, that’s great!!!!! I’m thrilled to see what it inspired!!!!
Thank you so much Dahling!!!!!!
Much love back! ❤🤗❤🤗❤
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xoxoxoxoxoxo
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❤️💖🤗💖❤️
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EEEEEE!!!
i just posted the Picasso-esque post!
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
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…and I just rebloged your masterpiece!!!!!!
You are AMAZING! I adore you!!!!!!!
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
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Eeeee!!!
This was an exciting post to do!
Thank you! Love you, dahling!!!
xoxoxoxoxoxoxo
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Exciting for me too!!!!!
Adore you, dahling!!!
🤗💖🤗💖🤗💖🤗💖🤗
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Dahling!
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo
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Mouah with a sound and a hug!!!!
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Ahhhh…. comments now have sound!
xoxoxo
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Yep!!!! 🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰🥰
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