Man Holding Paper in Airport, Fiumicino, Italy, October 2008
From a story in progress called Imaginary Lines.
Simon Griffee
Department of graphic design, art direction, and photography.
December 2008
Europe’s Apartheid
Joakim Eskildsen (Marie Claire Italy interview, September 2008.):
bq.. “Also, Nea Zoi near Athens was a big surprise. Just outside Athens, some 3000 Roma live on an old garbage dump, totally in the hands of the authorities who do whatever they like to them. About every two months, their barracks are bulldozed by the municipality who in doing so, acts illegally, but since many Roma do not know their rights, and nobody protects them, this crime towards them can continue - all just next to Athens, the so-called cradle of Western civilization.
Maybe the biggest surprise is non-Roma often believe that the Roma like to live this way, and that it is part of their culture… Nobody wants to live like this, and it is not part of any culture, but the result of 500 years of anti-Roma legislation and separation.
Another surprising community was a rich community in Russia, who had cleaners in their house, and whose children play chess and the piano. If only the Roma are given the same rights and opportunities as everyone, they manage very well.”
See Joakim’s The Roma Journeys, the subject of the above interview, and also Peuple sans frontières from Polka magazine #3, novembre 2008 - janvier 2009.
Man Reading Newspaper Behind Glass, Le Rughe, Italy, October 2008
While I was redesigning SimonGriffee.com David & crew were busy redesigning David Alan Harvey’s online forum which is now Burn Magazine: an evolving journal for emerging photographers, curated by Magnum photographer David Alan Harvey. Go and sit by the fire there and listen from time to time… I’ve learned much doing so!
Flying Flock, Bracciano, Italy, December 2008
Merry Christmas and welcome to the new SimonGriffee.com!
Mês Collection · January 2009, Wyoming, US, June 2005
Approaching Bear’s Lodge Butte, Wyoming, US, June 2005
The first Mês Collection Print is one of my favorite photographs from my road trip from New York City to San Francisco in the summer of 2005 (other photographs from this time will soon appear in the Stories section). The road and the changing sites and events around it such as Devil’s Tower moved and changed me.
I embarked on that road trip to eliminate my office-insect routine. I ended up also eliminating countless insects with the 1990 red Saab 900, and their entrails had to be wiped off the windshield often. To me, the dirty windscreen and the road and natural scene outside tells a story about the land I traveled and is a symbol of the need to step out the door and go.