Book launch: Boys with Feelings by Kostis Fokas

Next Thursday, 11 December, at 8pm, we are proud to invite you to the launch of our latest publication, Boys With Feelings by noted Greek photographer Kostis Fokas.
Join us along with the photographer and get the first copies of his long-awaited debut solo photo book. On the evening Kostis will be available to sign your copies and to have a chat while we all mingle to the sounds of a specially curated playlist he is making for the occasion. The launch will be accompanied by an exhibition of high-quality poster prints which will be available to special order, as well as by a limited edition Boys With Feelings graphic t-shirt.

Fokas’s work always focuses on the human form, and in Boys With Feelings specifically on the nude male body. The balletic, sometimes acrobatic, twisted and intertwined bodies of his subjects interact with each other, with themselves and with the viewer in a singular expressive manner. These are not just the usual nude photos. The models remain faceless, save for the inclusion of a few solitary eyes gazing directly at the camera. Their bodies transform into landscapes — into abstracted masses. Arms become legs, torsos merge into themselves, hands grasp mounds of flesh, desexualizing what could otherwise be considered simply erotic images. How many bodies are in this photo? Where does the one model end and where does the other begin?

In a world sadly accustomed to more and more alienation and isolation, Fokas’s images celebrate the pure joy and beauty of human connection and touch. His playful yet formal approach allows the viewer to share in the intimacy of every moment he captures without the constraints of patriarchal shame and digital detachment. Fokas aims his lens at the body as a site of desire, fantasy, submission and memory.

In his own words: “This project emerged from loneliness, but within that solitude I began to hear myself more clearly. It marks my journey into adulthood — perhaps a bit late, but nevertheless deeply felt.”

Kostis Fokas (Athens, 1979), is a conceptual photographer whose practice centers on the exploration and the complexities of the human body. Fokas’s work has been exhibited in the US and Europe including at the Louvre Museum, Colette, Art Basel Miami, the Benaki Museum, and MOMus Museum of Modern Art Thessaloniki, among others. Fokas has collaborated with and published his work in Zeit Magazine, Les Inrockuptibles, L’obs, i-D, Dazed, The Advocate, Gay Times, Gayletter and other international publications and websites.