Vasilis Nikolopoulos (b. 1993) is a Greek photographer currently based in Amsterdam, who focusses on long-term projects about identity and ways of looking. In 2021 he graduated from London College of Communication with an MA in Documentary Photography and was nominated as one of GUP New’s upcoming photography talents in the Netherlands.
In his body of work ‘Today is my Birthday’, Nikolopoulos investigates notions of human existence and explores how to render them visible. The series is originally inspired by a story of a magician who is preparing for the most important magic trick of his career: the one that would transfer his partner to a dream, allowing him to observe her future. However, this vision does not meet his expectations of living together happily ever after. Instead, the apparition reveals that she is going to have a lonely life without his presence. Consequently, the magician is overwhelmed with questions about whether he is going to accept this vision or disregard it as a mere illusion.
Driven by a search for meaning in the meaningless world, Nikolopoulos looks at ways in which images can be read or understood, notably those of cryptic and abstruse nature. Operating between fact and fiction, the work is presented in a poetic manner, leaving space for the viewer’s imagination to roam his illusive depictions of seemingly everyday scenes that carry a peculiar and estranged presence.
In an interview with Discarded Magazine, we talk about this ambiguous series and his plans of turning it into a self-published photobook.