The E at Delphi

For centuries, above the legendary Temple of Apollo, there was an E. But the meaning of the E was lost somewhere in history. As far back as the Greek historian Plutarchos, people have been trying to guess why it was there, but none of the proposals hold water. In 2024, a scholar in Thailand suggested that we’ve been trying too hard to explain the E with complex theories. He said it’s possible the E simply represented mystery—mystery as the warm and necessary counterpoint to cold, hard logic.

This story, and the natural tension between reason and the unknown will be the starting point for 5 days of experimentation, discussion and play around photography and visual language.

We will spend 4 days in Athens, alternating between the classroom and field trips around the city. We will work with materials that you bring, to test William Gedney’s assertion that “All facts eventually lead to mysteries.” We will visit and retrace the paths and methods of Greek scholars and artists from antiquity to the present. On day 5, we will travel to Delphi, the original site of the E and the ancient oracle for a climactic and open-ended finale.