Memory is images, it is light and shadow, it is colours, distorted faces and impressions. Each time we try to recall an image, no matter how hard we try, we create a new version of it, a new narration. The feeling is there, but the details are missing. Maybe a detail from another memory is there, lost, trying to fit in somewhere inside this giant tank of moments. My childhood years were my happiest moments, and my most documented. I was loved so much and I loved endlessly anyone that was in my life. Looking back, trying to recall memories from that idyllic time, I can’t help but poison these images with my present perceptions and ideas, each time I go through the numerous photo albums, until the past and the present become one timeless timeline. In this project, I chose not to glue down the compositions I had made, by simply just scanning them, at times using the same scrap multiple times. By this, I attempted to imitate how memory works, never staying permanent, prone to distortion through repetition, totally fragile and helpless before time.
The different elements that make up a society, whether it be its people or their creations, are irreversibly imprinted on the backdrop of a city. From time immemorial in the collective consciousness, the historical richness and cultural diversity of a place have generated the desire to tell stories, be they real or not. The compositions presented in the exhibition evoke scenes from a fairy tale, like snapshots of a folk tradition and heritage. Fragments from historical photographs of Kavala, synthesize new realities, through an inevitable surrealism. Hybrid constructions, people transformed into buildings, like other mythical monsters, or shadow theatre figures, stand here as landmarks of a different era, crafted by the people, for the people. The monuments tell their own stories, the stories of their people, and all we can do is listen to them, care for and preserve them.