“I never felt or saw him as disfigured. I was never afraid. I would even go so far as to say that Raimondakis is one of the most beautiful blokes that I have ever seen; it is not an effort to say so. Before me, this ancient statue. When I see him there, I do not think about leprosy, I think of him, Raimondakis, nothing else. I can see that his eyes are no longer eyes, but behind them lies something more than a glance, a kind of highly mysterious screen. The curves of the eyes are in proportion with those of the mouth. In fact, this asymmetry, all of these asymmetries on his face, instead of conferring him ugliness, give him a sort of absolutely extraordinary multiplicity. The map of this face reminds me of a volcano, a mountain which has been subjected to torrential rain, which has been eroded, naturally modelling a landscape. Afterwards, if I look at the ears which are big, the pavilions, we see that he is blind; we can imagine that his ears have grown as his eyes grew weaker. Furthermore, there is this chin which sticks out slightly. In short, in my opinion, it is a face of serenity.” (JDP)
