Nicosia in Dark and White

Following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974 most of the buildings in Nicosia in the area around the so-called Green Line were abandoned. A lot of them stayed that way. Over the years I had visited the southern part of the island many times on vacation since my mother's family is in Limassol. I never spent time in the capital of Nicosia though. That changed in 2002 when during my mandatory service in the Greek armed forces stationed on the island I got to spend significant time in and around the old city of Nicosia. Unlike the locals, who had grown accustomed to this haunting and intriguing scenery, I was unprepared, disturbed and inspired. The places that I present here made such a huge impression on me from the first time I came across them that I felt compelled to communicate this through my craft. All pictures were captured with the existing light entering those places, with a medium format camera on a tripod and long exposures. A monograph of this project was published in 2010 by Book Ex Machina: http://www.bookexmachina.com/nicosia-in-dark-and-white.html The monograph was named first finalist for Best Photography Book in the 69th Pictures of the Year International (POYi).