Transition

Cyclades, 2007 – 2010 A change in life can often lead to a new photographic project. In my case, moving from the city to province and in particular Syros island, the capital of Cyclades, could only lead me to start exploring the landscape which plays a significant role as a subject in my work. Meanwhile, what I was really looking for, was to define my relationship with it and this and this alone would be adequate. So I started taking pictures while traveling around the islands for work or leisure and as I was familiar with the urban landscapes, at the beginning I was mostly looking for contrasts and exaggerations, as one can observe as the central idea in one of my previous projects in Santorini island. But now, instead of these I started finding similar and mainly austere places interesting. Here the elements of nature are not only the fundamental instruments of the depicted scenery. They are living experience. Despite the alienation due to the housing development, the cycladian landscape still hides traces from the past. It is like every inch of land has its own stories to tell: the example of Giaros, Delos and Tinos islands, even of Hermoupolis with the numerous historical first-leads. Similar images and repeated landscapes, which reveal a tremendous variety of dramatic contradictions. Progressively my sense of the cycladian space started to change and that also led to a parallel change in the perception of time. This nude landscape might still remain rough and difficult as a photographical subject, but it managed to offer me its enhanced quality of community. That is how I started shifting my interest from the outer to the inner. Urban environments, personal relations, small everyday things, moments, they all became substantial to the photographical narration equal to the grey of the stone and the blue of the sky.