The Greek-Norwegian couple Alexandros Tsakos and Henriette Hafsaas-Tsakos have lived and worked in Sudan for several years. You can take part in their adventures and learn more about their archeological fieldworks through a photo exhibition at the Benaki Museum of Islamic Art in Athens. The exhibition runs until 20th February.
More than 80 photographs exhibited
Henriette and Alexandros have been living in Sudan for several years, working on many different archeological projects. During this time, the Greek-Norwegian couple took a large amount of photos. More than 80 of these photos are presented in the exhibition "From Nubia to Sudan" at the Benaki Museum of Islamic Art. The exhibtion tells about the life along the Nile in the present and in the past.
The photographs show historical monuments, like pyramids and temples from the pre-historic and christian times, churches from the Christian era, and the main features of Sudan’s Islamic architecture, like mosques and qubbas (funerary monuments). A central focus of the exhibition is some unique photographs from the Fourth Nile Cataract that was flooded when the controversial Merowe Dam was inaugurated in 2009 and 173 kilometers of the Middle Nile Valley disappeared under water.
Photo: Henriette Hafsaas-Tsakos and Alexandros Tsakos
South Sudan gained its independence on the July 9th 2011, but all the photographs of the exhibition were shot in what is still today the country of Sudan – and mainly in its northernmost part, Nubia. During the medieval times, Nubia was the name used for the stretch of the Nile Valley from Khartoum in Sudan to Aswan in Egypt.
-It was our friend, the artist Irini Gonou, who suggested that we should organize an exhibition of our photographs after she had followed our blog on the Medieval Sai Project in Sudan and who up at a meeting for us with the curators of the Benaki Museum”, relates Alexandros Tsakos.
His wife, Henriette, admits that they were first thinking about having a small exhibition, but after going through their photographic archive and having discussed with the museum curators, they realized that they were venturing into something much larger.
-The exhibition consists of more than 80 photos, all shot by Alexandros and me during the period 2005-2010, says Henriette.
The Benaki Museum chose to host the exhibition of photographs by Alexandros Tsakos and Henriette Hafsaas-Tsakos, aiming to familiarize the Greek public with this special land - a crossroads of Islam and Christianity in the African landscape of the Nile where also the Greeks have left their traces.
Photo: Henriette Hafsaas-Tsakos and Alexandros Tsakos
About Henriette Hafsaas-Tsakos and Alexandros Tsakos
Henriette Hafsaas-Tsakos studied archaeology and social anthropology at the University of Bergen. She completed her Master thesis about Bronze Age cattle herders in Lower Nubia in 2003. Henriette participated for two seasons in the Merowe Dam Archaeological Salvage Project (Sudan). She became a PhD researcher at the University of Bergen in late 2006, and has published a monograph and several articles on topics from Sudanese, Norwegian, and Palestinian archaeology.
Alexandros Tsakos studied history and archaeology at the University of Ioannina, Greece. Alexandros is currently a Ph.D. researcher at Humboldt University, Berlin. He has participated in several archaeological fieldworks in Sudan over the years. He has also been teacher at the Greek School of Khartoum and director of the Greek Cultural Center “Ergamenis”. He has worked extensively on the medieval collection stored in museums in Sudan, and in 2007-2008 he was contractor of UNESCO for the rehabilitation of the permanent exhibition of Medieval Antiquities in Sudan National Museum. He has published several articles on texts from Medieval Nubia.
Henriette met Alexandros in Sudan, and on March 1st 2008 they made vows of marriage under the Nubian sky. They now live together with their son in the Norwegian city of Bergen.
In connection with the venue a catalogue is published with texts and photographs from the exhibition. The printing was sponsored by the Greek Law Office of Thanasis Alykatoras, by the Norwegian Embassy and the Norwegian Institute at Athens, and by the Greek branch of the Norwegian company Yara.