I need a good reason to go out in barbarian Athens. I prefer strolling near where I live. Once you’re out there you meet all kinds of nutters, myself included. My main feature is that I’m strange, both in speech and appearance. People tell me so when they speak to me. Now it is me who says it. A good day for me is any routine day. Kallithea-home-paintings. I paint with music. I am a quiet person. I don’t need fairy tales, they are for those who need them. I choose reality and it is only when life slaps me in the face that I move forward. A miserable routine is having no friends, being alone. There is however cure to loneliness; we are responsible for creating it, just like we do for happiness. The truth is I am happy so far. I wouldn’t change my image. A woman is always a woman. I can’t understand the ones who don’t take care of themselves, who can’t appreciate nature’s gift to them. My dream was always to become a woman, a beautiful one. I have met many repressed girls. They smoke in secret and come to my house to change their cloths; to replace a long skirt for a mini one just to go out at night. This oppression could start with something small, like a cigarette or could be bigger. There is a counter effect to oppression, the person might go on and do everything opposite. All at once. And when you do it all simultaneously, you go mad. I feel free when I am sleeping. People like me are usually identified with a peculiar image; paid sex, drugs and seclusion. I don’t feel I belong on the sidelines. Whatever I do, I do it in moderation; provocation is not my intention. I don’t allow myself the right to get in trouble. The choice I made in life, has not upset me. It didn’t change my mind, nor my soul. My looks have only changed. It was a choice that came naturally and your choices show who you are. I believe in God but in my own way. God is just a word, goddess is also a beautiful woman walking down the street. I am 28 and I feel exactly that. Let’s not have illusions. I feel 28, because I am 28 and this is a fact you can’t change. I laugh with my face, my style. I can’t recall my previous life. I giggle nicely.
M.O
–
I first met Mina Orfanou when she visited our offices together with the director Panos Koutras. That was a few months before shooting for ‘Strella’ begun. That evening was marked with Mina’s presence; a dazzling guest star right before becoming a proper star. I remember she made me promise we would feature her interview one day. Just a few days before she won Best Acress Award from Film Academy, I asked her to tell us what she had to say in her own words.
G.K
Text: Mina Orfanou, Commentary: Yorgos Kelefis / Photography: Carolina Mey / Styling: Marianthi Chatzikidi / Make-up: Mairy Fakinou
