Hellenic Antidote: Greek Americans

Above is a good talk from Dan Georgakas given to the Pontian Greek Society of Chicago on the fall and evacuation of Smyrna in 1922 and how these events are represented in contemporary Turkey. Georgakas, whose family has roots in Asia Minor, is an interesting person. As well as being a significant chronicler of the Greek American experience and a champion of Greek causes and culture, he is a prominent film critic and political writer and activist, who was a part of that counter-cultural wave that swept over Detroit in the 1960s. Georgakas was a founding member of the anarchist group, Up Against the Wall Motherfuckers.

In his talk on Smyrna, Georgakas as well as detailing the horrors that befell the city’s Greeks when it was taken by Mustafa Kemal’s forces, makes the very significant point that the refusal to own up to the atrocities it committed at its establishment has meant that the Republic of Turkey was condemned to repeat them, as evidenced by the Varlik Vergisi, the Constantinople pogrom, the ethnic cleansing of Imvros and Tenedos and the invasion and occupation of Cyprus. In other words, Georgakas is telling us that Turkey’s lies about its past inform its present actions and as such should not be trusted by Greece or regarded as a reliable partner by America.

Sceptre: William Baziotes

I’ve been taking an interest in the works of four Greek American artists, all heavily influenced by surrealism, abstract expressionism and, of course, their Greek heritage. The four are:

William Baziotes (1912-1963)
Theodore Stamos (1922-1997)
Michael Lekakis (1907-1988)
Thomas Chimes (1921-2009)

Below are some of their works. It’s worth pointing out that Baziotes was probably the most renowned of the four, though Chimes also enjoyed a considerable reputation. Chimes is also noteworthy for his fascination with French writer Albert Jarry – the creator of the absurdist pseudo-philosophy of ‘pataphysics’ – and Franco-Greek playwright Antonin Artaud. Stamos was deeply influenced by Greek mythology and philosophy and after a scandal involving the estate of his close friend Mark Rothko, he spent more and more time in Greece, particularly on the island of Lefkada, his ancestral homeland. Lekakis, predominantly a sculptor, whose father was a flower seller in New York, said that he developed his sense of form through his knowledge of flowers and flower arranging and his sense of form and space through studying and practising Greek dance. Chimes credits Lekakis with being his mentor. The two met at an airforce base in South Carolina in 1941. Chimes had been drafted into the services, while Lekakis was teaching a course in camouflage.

William Baziotes