ENTRY DESCRIPTION
The image is from the on-going project "gray wall" that explores the struggle between individuality and conformity, using self-portraits inspired by my personal experiences. Growing up in Cyprus, I felt like an outsider, striving to meet others’ expectations. After moving to the U.S., I repeated the same process, attempting to abandon my Greek identity to assimilate. Nearing 50, I realized this battle to suppress my true self was futile. The desire to fit in fosters self-loathing, leading to regret over wasted time pretending to be someone else.
Shot entirely on my balcony using natural light, the project began during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020. Originally envisioned as a public performance, the constraints of the pandemic turned my balcony into a semi-public stage. Over two years, I refined the concept and began formally shooting in Spring 2022. The balcony became a ritual space where I documented Miami’s distinct lighting, which shifts from soft to harsh, mirroring the internal conflict of conformity.
The series begins with a Miami wall image, grounding the location. The next image features the model in a perfectly ironed white shirt, symbolizing daily routine and societal expectations. Clothing masks individuality, while the black mask represents the darker consequences of conformity, including attempts at physical transformation. Digitally manipulated shirt distortions parallel such artificial changes. Yet, no external alteration erases inner essence, leaving unresolved scars.
This struggle fosters a desire to become as featureless as a white wall—dimensionless and devoid of identity. Over time, the wall turns gray—imperfect and disappointing. The current image portraits this transition to the gray.
AUTHOR
Yiorgos Michael is a self-taught visual artist and poet whose work explores themes of identity, aging, emotional constraint, and the fragile architecture of presence. Working at the intersection of post-documentary and conceptual photography, he constructs emotionally charged image sequences that blur the line between metaphor and memory.
His photographic practice combines portraiture, performance, and spatial symbolism. Often, he stages quiet, psychologically resonant moments within transient or intimate environments. His visual language draws on the atmospheric subtlety of Pictorialism, the experimental abstraction of László Moholy-Nagy, and the introspective emotionality of Francesca Woodman and Duane Michals.
In parallel with his visual work, Yiorgos writes bilingual poetry in Greek and English, echoing the same emotional, philosophical, and spatial concerns found in his photographs. Across both mediums, he investigates the unseen: absence, fragmentation, ritual, and the quiet struggle between disappearance and visibility.
The name "Yiorgos Michael" is an intentional alias derived from his Greek first and middle names. By omitting his surname, Yiorgos allows his work greater freedom of interpretation. Without a last name to anchor it to his background, the work stands on its own, inviting viewers to engage with it without preconception. The name also reflects the duality of his background. Having lived half of his life in Cyprus and half in the United States, he chose a name that mirrors this balance: Yiorgos for the Greek, Michael for the American.
His work has been recognized internationally with awards from the European Photography Awards, ND Awards, London International Creative Competition, Monochrome Awards, and Black & White Spider Awards. He has exhibited in group shows in Berlin, Tokyo, New York, and London, and participated in workshops with artists such as Matt Black, Carolyn Drake, Sabiha Çimen, and Steve McCurry.
Yiorgos currently lives and works between Cyprus and the United States.
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