On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the birth of C. P. Cavafy (1863-1933) the MUSEUM OF GREEK FOLK ART of the Ministry of Culture and Sport and the ART/EUROPEAN ANIMATION CENTER are organising an international photo exhibition inspired by the poetry of the Greek Alexandrian poet.

The exhibition is titled SO WELL-SUITED and will be held at the Bath-House of the Winds, (8, Kyrrestou str., Plaka, Athens) from November 23rd, 2013 until February 28th, 2014.

Twenty-three photographers from various countries are approach C. P. Cavafy’s poetry.

Manos Garatzogannis, a young Greek actor, reciting the poem “Lovely Flowers and White So Well-Suited”, creates a sound installation.

Dino Sato transforms the poem “And I Lounged and Lay on Their Beds” into an unexpected short animation and a colourful illustration.

The installation “Lovely White Flowers”, based on the same titled artwork by Yannis Tsarouchis since 1964, completes this photo exhibition.

VENUE: BATH-HOUSE OF THE WINDS, 8., Kyrrestou str., Plaka, Athens, Greece
DATES: November 23rd, 2013 – February 28th, 2014
INAUGURATION: Saturday, November 23rd, 2013, at 19:00 hs
OPEN HOURS: All days open (09:00-15:00) (Tuesdays closed)
INFORMATION: 0030 210 32 44 340

Curator: Krzysztof STANISLAWSKI, Poland

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LOVELY WHITE FLOWERS SO WELL-SUITED

He entered the café          where they used go together.—
Three months ago          it was here his friend had told him,
“We’re dead broke.          Two down and out boys
we are — reduced          to the cheapest spots.
I’m telling you up front,          I can’t keep on going
with you. Someone else,          get it, wants me.”
The someone else had promised him          two suits and some
silk handkerchiefs.—          To get him back he turned
the world upside down — and came up with twenty pounds.
He went back to him          for the twenty pounds;
but along with all that,          for their old attachment,
for their old love,          for the deep feeling between them.—
The “someone else” was a liar,          a real tramp;
he’d had only one suit          made for him, and
that under constraint,          with a thousand pleas.

But now he wants          neither suits,
nor silk handkerchiefs          any longer, any way,
nor twenty pounds,          or even twenty piastres.

Sunday they buried him,          at ten in the morning.
Sunday they buried him:          it’s been almost a week.

On his inexpensive coffin          he laid flowers,
lovely white flowers          so well-suited
to his beauty and          his twenty-two years.

When he went that evening—          it happened he had business
essential to his bread and butter—          to the café they
used to go together;          a knife to the heart
that sad café          where they used to go together.

Complete Plus, The Poems of C.P. Cavafy in English, translated by George Economou with Stavros Deligiorgis, Bristol, England, Shearsman Books, 2013, p. 198.