Vladimir Antaki Photographs “Guardians of Urban Temples”

Vladimir Antaki, a photographer from Montreal, Canada, has taken portraits of shopkeepers, the “guardians of urban temples,” for his series The Guardians. The photos are not staged: Antaki chooses his subjects spontaneously as he walks around a city, and takes these photos the first time he meets the people. The project so far includes “Guardians” from 9 cities — Montreal, New York, Las Vegas, Paris, Vienna, Berlin, London, Amsterdam, and Beirut.

“These places are sometimes magical, overloaded with elements, colours and stories, guarded by these characters who are sometimes touching, funny, quirky, and at times frightening. The photos that I take are often the only memory that this “Guardian” will have of him/herself in their daily environment. This photo can be the only visual record of the existence of this place, the only photographic memory,” Antaki writes in the artist’s statement.