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“Effy sees herself very much as a documentary photographer and, I would suggest, a social historian. A hallmark of her work is her capacity to engage with her subjects – the impact of her photography is its fundamental humanity.”

Richard NevilleMitchell Librarian, State Library of NSW

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“Effy Alexakis’ life work has been centred on documenting the many layers of the Greek diaspora in Australia – the forgotten and the remembered, the neglected and the cherished, the old and the new… Documenting the many layers of our social past is important to her. The way we live, the way we laugh, the way we remember… The colour of life vividly flows through her photographic documentations.”

Dr Andonis PiperoglouCultural historian, University of Melbourne

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“The extent and intensity of Effy and Leonard’s focus on a single, coherent theme is unparalleled… It has taken decades of intensive work to develop such an extensive record. The result is a body of work more detailed and more beautifully presented than any for any comparable social group. Effy and Leonard rather modestly call the fruits of their labour an archive. But it is much more than that. It is certainly more than the shelf loads of other people’s stuff that happens to have been given to a museum or a library. It has been lovingly collected, curated, re-imaged, retold, redesigned and reimagined… Indeed, much of the archive is of their own hands – the photographs that Effy has taken, and the text they have written by means of which the image and text are tied together into an interpretative narrative. This is a gift to Australians, Greeks and their peculiar hyphenation.”

Professor Mary KalantzisMultidisciplinary academic, University of Illinois