ENTRY DESCRIPTION
The image is for a series of self-portraits visualizes my poem, "To Catch a Storm." The story is represented conceptually to invite the viewer to engage with the narrative. To achieve this, I attempted to erase my personal characteristics by using black clothes, a black mask, and a black background. All other objects are black except for the cloud, which is a clay sculpture. I chose the all-black concept because it aligns with the inspiration behind the story—a storm—and how it affects sunlight. As storms pass by in the middle of the day, their dark clouds tend to absorb the sunlight. But at the tail end of the storm, Miami's harsh sunlight coexists with this blackness. I sought to emulate this coexistence by juxtaposing the all-black setup with harsh artificial light.
"to catch a storm"
To be free, I thought I had to catch a storm.
To contain it, I fixed an old box.
I strapped it on my back.
I searched and didn't find the storm.
Instead, I stole a cloud and placed it inside the box.
Its fog was hiding tomorrow’s dawn.
To hide its light, I covered the box with a cloth.
Afraid of the dark, the cloud rebelled and tried to liberate the dawn.
The noise woke up the storm who told the wind of what I did.
I knew the wind would come for me.
When it arrived, I was ready to fight and surely win.
I fought and lost.
I lost to realize that to be free, I had to let the wind win.
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.
back to gallery
