Caryatis
The upcoming photography book by George Tatakis
Caryatis is the forthcoming photography book by Greek photographer George Tatakis, bringing together his internationally awarded body of work on women wearing traditional local costumes throughout Greece.
Developed over many years, the project moves across islands, mountain villages, interiors, landscapes, rituals, memory, and place. The book is planned for publication in November 2026 and is intended as the definitive publication of the Caryatis project.
Working cover visual
Working cover visual
This is a working cover visual and not the final published cover. Design, typography, image selection, and publication details may change before release.
Caryatis has received 24 international photography awards.
George Tatakis’ work has been published by The New York Times, National Geographic, and LFI, and has been exhibited and collected by institutions including the Benaki Museum (Athens), Fragonard Museum (Grasse, Cannes), and Museum of Avant-Garde (Lugano).
About Caryatis
Caryatis is a long-term photographic project dedicated to women wearing traditional local costumes from across Greece.
The images are not documentary snapshots. They are directed portraits, created with natural light, in places where costume, architecture, landscape, gesture, and memory still carry meaning. Each photograph is built around form, stillness, contrast, and the silent presence of the person within her cultural landscape.
The project began as an evolution of Ethos, George Tatakis’ earlier work on traditional cultural events in Greece. Where Ethos follows ritual as it unfolds, Caryatis slows the image down. It removes the noise of the event and creates a direct encounter with costume, identity, and place.
the book
The forthcoming Caryatis book will bring together a large selection of photographs from the project in a carefully sequenced publication.
It is not conceived as a catalogue of costumes, nor as a nostalgic record of the past. It is a photographic book about Greece, womanhood, regional identity, inherited forms, and the way tradition continues to exist through people and places.
The book is planned for publication in November 2026.
Further details about the publisher, format, number of pages, editions, launch events, and pre-orders will be announced through the Caryatis book list.
working cover
Why this publication matters
Many of the garments photographed in Caryatis are no longer part of everyday life. They survive through families, museums, local associations, collectors, and the women who continue to wear, preserve, and understand them.
But Caryatis is not only about clothing.
It is about the visual language of Greece: the geometry of villages, the weight of interiors, the memory of rituals, the dignity of women, and the way a place can remain present through its forms.
The book aims to become a lasting cultural and photographic record of this work — a publication that can travel beyond exhibitions and remain in private libraries, institutions, museums, and homes.
“ Like the ancient Caryatids, George Tatakis’ Caryatids are not simply figures dressed in Greek traditional attire; they are figures that carry weight, memory, silence, and historical continuity. ”
Tradition as living cultural experience
In her introduction to the forthcoming volume, Gina Karelia, President of the Lykeion ton Ellinidon Kalamatas, writes that Greek traditional dress is not merely a garment of the past, but a bearer of identity, cultural continuity, memory, and collective experience.
Her text frames Caryatis not as a catalogue of costumes, but as a contemporary photographic encounter with tradition: one that allows the past to continue its dialogue with the present.
Follow the Journey of the Book
Caryatis is scheduled for publication in November 2026.
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About the Artist
George Tatakis is a Greek photographer based in Athens. His work focuses on long-term photographic projects connected to Greek culture, tradition, ritual, costume, identity, and place.
His two major projects are Ethos and Caryatis. His photographs have been published by The New York Times, National Geographic, and LFI, exhibited internationally, and collected by museums including the Benaki Museum in Athens, the Fragonard Museum in Cannes, and the Museum of Avant-Garde in Lugano.
Working exclusively in black-and-white, Tatakis uses natural light, strong geometry, and directed composition to create images that move between documentary memory and formal portraiture.
