August 23, 2012 – November 11, 2012
Florida Museum of Photographic Arts
Individuals as diverse as Vladimir Putin and Tony Blair know that what they project with their image is as potent as any military arsenal.
Therefore, when the world leaders at a 2009 United Nations General Assembly meeting were intercepted by an enterprising portrait photographer named Platon Antoniou, they must have worried. They could not control the results of his portrait session: in essence, they were at his mercy.
“Every head of state has to address the General Assembly, and there’s a podium where they all stand to make their speeches,” said Platon, the British-Greek photographer who was working for The New Yorker magazine. “[For five days], I stood a few feet away from the podium backstage… and since everyone had to pass me on their way to and from the stage, I had two chances to secure a portrait session with each person.”