Pagrati, the Athenian neighborhood where the Athens Center is located, is full of important people. Our Center is on the street of Embedokles, a well-known (if you lived in the 5th century b.c.e.) Pythagorean philosopher. I live on the corner of the street of Euphranor, a 4th century b.c.e. sculptor and the street of Lysippos, one of the most interesting sculptors of Greek antiquity. Still, not every street is named after some totally forgettable ancient person; our square, for instance, was named for St. Barnabas (at least I think that's the source of its name), a contemporary of St. Paul . . . so not particularly modern either.
Still Barnabas Square is anything but old and dusty and to prove it, here are a bunch of photos shot by Petros Dellatolas (don't miss the video by Petros' colleague Kostas Karagiannis!), a friend of Arcadia. Petros' main job is fashion photography as you can see here but he has agreed to spend some time in our Πλατεία Βαρνάβας, Plateia Varnava, Barnabas Square, shooting portraits of the people of the square from the fish monger to the barber to the barista to the souvlaki guy. Petros is also a friendly and charming guy so, fingers crossed, this plateia portrait project will result in some great shots and interesting bios which we can feature on our Instagram feed and elsewhere. Alum of the program will be happy to see their old friends and potential students will get to know their neighbors before they arrive. A great idea! And, the ultimate goal is for us to host an exhibit of Petros' plateia portraits in our Center sometime at this fall. Wish us luck!