Platon - A provocateur

Platon
a provocateur
Made by:
Harshal Pokle.



















Platon
a provocateur

All photographs by:

Platon Antoniou



Content

Foreword
About platon
Sexual violance in Congo
US Immigration
Bibliography

Foreword

This isn’t an encyclopedia or a typology.These photographs

were selected because they have something to say about time,
place and people. Looking at pictures can evoke thoughts and
feeling about life. Good art does that, weather its photography,
painting,music, dance, film or literature. It leads each of us to ponder
in our own, personal terms, not just the subject at hand but the
universal nature of human existence.
The photographs in this book, show us the world as it really is, or
in some cases, was. In all the pictures there is that sense of dialogue
between the subject and the artist. With photos presented in a book,
rather than on a wall in some museum or a gallery, the dialogue
expands into an ongoing conversation between the readers, the
artist and their subject.
Photographs aren’t tape recordings.They don’t directly transmit
the sounds of people.They don’t playback the voices and words
of the people you see here.Yet, these photographs, speak to our
hearts, our minds and our guts in the international visual language
of pictures.
They tell the subject’s experiences, lives and circumstances.The
pictures speak of pain, poverty, violence, joy and sorrow. We see the
dignity, despair, courage and perseverance of those depicted. In this
great conversation, we learn how much all human beings have in
common and how little it can take to set us against each other.

14

CAPTIONS FOR PAGES 2 THROUGH 10.

Pages 2 & 3 :

Mara Puga, 42, and her children |San Deigo.|

In 2010, at the San Ysidro port of entry near San Diego, California, Anastasio Hernandez Rojas
was beaten and shocked with a stun gun by Border Patrol agents and died three days later.
He had been deported a few months earlier and was trying to reenter the United States and
rejoin to his wife, Maria Puga, and their 7-year-old twins, Daniela and Daniel, pictured here near
the wall where Rojas was beaten. Puga, who has successfully demanded an investigation into
her husband’s death, says “I want my kids to grow up peacefully, not with rancor.That is why I

continue to search for justice.”

Pages 4 & 5 :

A baby being operated on by physicians at Panzi Hospital

The chief operating doctor at center is Dr. Désiré Alumeti, a pediatric surgeon at Panzi Hospital.
He was trained in forensic medicine in Senegal and works part-time in the Sexual Violence

Clinic at Panzi Hospital on difficult forensic cases. He also lectures on forensic medicine and
pediatric surgery at the Université Evangélique en Afrique (UEA). As an emerging leader and
public health expert in Bukavu, Dr. Désiré is deeply committed to human rights and justice for

victims of sexual violence.

Pages 5 & 6 :

Mike Wilson, 64 | Tucson, Ariz. |

Wilson, a volunteer with Humane Borders, leaves water in the desert for migrants and leads
search missions when they are reported missing.

Pages 7 & 8 :

Dr. Patrick Bigabwa comforts a patient at Panzi Hospital.

Dr. Bigabwa has been helping patients at Panzi Hospital as a doctor for seven years. He cares
for five children at home and finds working with child victims of violence especially challenging.

“Of course it is profoundly affecting to have the responsibility to treat children who have been
raped. It makes you wonder what sort of human can attack and destroy a child’s life.”

Page 9 :

Platon and Scott Dadich in Greece filming Abstract: The Art of
Design.

Page 11 :

Platon taking a potrait of Stephen Colbert for TIME magzine.

15

About Platon.

Platon is a communicator and storyteller
and is represented by the Washington
Speakers Bureau. He has been invited
to be a keynote speaker on leadership
at the World Economic Forum in Davos,
Chanel, Nike,Yale University, Oxford
University, Wharton University, the
National Portrait Gallery in London and

International Center of Photography in NY.
Platon is currently on the board for Arts

and Culture at the World Economic Forum
and serves as a steward for the Economic

Growth and Social Inclusion Initiative.

Who are You?

Platon.

Self-Potrait.

16





17

“George is a personal hero of mine. He’s
my mentor, and almost a father figure to
me now. I’ve learned more from George
than any other person in the business.

He’s taught me about courage and
about being in tune with the times we’re
living in, and that what we can all strive
for is to be cultural provocateurs. George
certainly did that when he created those

famous covers of Esquire magazine in
the 1960s, tackling all kinds of issues, from

war to civil rights. And while his work is
different from mine, th ere’s a link. We both
like to poke the bear and put a spotlight

on things that people might not be
comfortable talking about.”

Platon & George Lois

Self-Potrait.

18







You have
to help
people see
themselves in
the story.

Muhammed Ali

A Platon potrait.

20







I shook his hand, recovered a bit, and
said to him:“I’m a big Beatles fan.

Are you?” I wanted to break down the
formality of the situation, and suddenly

he started speaking perfect English.

“I love the Beatles!” he said.

Vladimir Putin

A Platon potrait.

22







“The camera is nothing more than a

tool.”

24





Page 24:
Platon & Jeremy Renner

Platon taking a potrait.

Jeremy Renner

A Platon potrait.
25

“Snowden held the flag in his
hands and delicately unfolded it.
You could see the gears moving.”

- Platon.

Edward Snowden

Platon’s potrait for WIRED magzine.

26







28

In March 2016, Platon and The People’s
Portfolio traveled to the Democratic
Republic of Congo to document the

struggle to end sexual violence against
women and girls.The project interviewed

and captured through portraiture the
dozens of doctors, activists, lawyers, police,
students, and advocates who are leading

the fight for justice and accountability,
and also tackled the long-standing

source of conflict: natural resource wealth
that fuels violence in the country. Partners

for this project included Physicians for
Human Rights and Dr. Denis Mukwege,
2018 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, and the
institutions he founded, Panzi Hospital
and Foundations.TIME published the
portfolio in February 2017.This portfolio is
the basis for the debut film by Platon,‘My
Body Is Not A Weapon’.The film will be

released in 2019
Esther Faraja, 17, and son Josue Ishara, 1

When Esther was 16 years old, she was fetching water in a rural area near her home. Three
militia members from the rebel FDLR abducted her in the forest and held her tied up for three

days, raping her each morning. On the fourth day, Esther was able to escape and find her
way back home where she soon discovered she was pregnant. Esther is pictured with her son,

Josue, who is one year old.

30

31

32

Page 30 :

Imani Kasengezi, 15 and Sara Bisimwa, 15

Imani is a teenager who was raped and came to Panzi Hospital
for maternal care. She is pictured at eight months pregnant.“A
man raped and threatened to kill me. When I went home, I told

my parents and they didn’t believe me. And now, because I didn’t
have any choice, I came to Panzi. I feel like I am on my own.

Page 31 :

Hands of “Mama” Zawadi Nadintu, 62, and
Vanessa, 4

Mama Zawadi is the sister of Dr. Mukwege. She helped found the
hospital’s rehabilitation and community center, Maison Dorcas.
Vanessa, the child pictured with her, is 4-years-old, and is the
daughter of a patient. After years of hearing distressing stories

of the rape and often torture of women, Mama Zawadi saw that
repairing a victim’s physical health was only the first step towards

rehabilitation: she recognized the need to restore their mental
health and outlook, coupled with their chances to reintegrate as

productive and confident members of society.

Page 32 :

Parents and children join morning prayers at
Panzi Hospital’s central courtyard.



Page 34 :

Dr. Denis Mukwege

Dr. Mukwege is a world-renowned gynecological
surgeon who is the founder and medical director

of Panzi Hospital and Foundations. He has been
the recipient of numerous awards worldwide

for his advocacy against sexual violence as a
weapon of war and for his outstanding services

to survivors of rape, including the European
Parliament’s prestigious Sakharov Prize for
Freedom of Thought in 2014.

Colonel David Bodeli Dombi, 45

Colonel Bodeli holds a wooden sign he made
and keeps in his police station that reads,“End

War Rape.” Colonel Bodeli is the chief of the
Women and Children Protection Unit in South

Kivu for the Congolese National Police.