We approached the design of the first major museum exhibition for top fashion photographer Terry Tsiolis the same way we do architecture: By envisioning how museum goers would move through the space and experience the art. The show was presented at the Benaki Museum in Athens in 2021.

Our design used a sense of mystery to pull visitors through and strengthen their interaction with the work. At the entry, we inserted a one-foot-thick wall that is entirely black except for an isolated image and the display of the short message Tsiolis posted to attract the project’s participants. Only after confronting and navigating the wall do visitors encounter the first room, where they’re surrounded by relatively small-sized images mounted on white walls. An opening between two planes reveals the photographs in the next gallery, which is also painted white and exhibits slightly larger prints. Another wide gap beckons patrons into the third and final gallery that displays the largest, most riveting works. Near the back, a second massive, black, thick-deep wall showcases a very large, solitary portrait. Only after walking around this barrier do visitors discover the final, most arresting works.

The exhibition is designed so the photography unfolds as the space unfolds. The experience is a progression from small to larger photographs requiring different degrees of focus. With each transition, viewers cross a threshold to encounter Tsiolis’s powerful imagery. As the intensity builds, the human response to the art becomes more manifest.

Born in Montreal in 1969, Tsiolis lives and works in New York. He has worked extensively with magazines, including Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and Vanity Fair. https://www.terrytsiolis.com/

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