The Written Eye

An old, undated photograph of a tree with the caption, “Tree under which the Virgin Mary rested on her flight into Egypt”, was the point of departure for this project. The emphatic utterance of the photograph’s title, the claim that a tree presented is the bearer of truth and its photograph, printed on a piece of paper, is the medium of momentous ‘historical’ proof.
The project’s focus is Salonica. The city’s socio-historical formations, especially under Ottoman rule (1430-1912), were complex and variegated, as communities with different identities -different languages, religions (Christian, Jewish, Muslim) and traditions- managed to live together while, at the same time, maintaining their own customs, communal practices and social habits. While co-existence was at certain times relatively peaceful and at other times fraught with conflict and tension, nevertheless, the various communities comprising the city, enriched it with a unique heritage of diverse cultural practices. It can be argued that Salonica has been a rare example of a city whose history and social experiences have been for many centuries, in the constant effort to integrate its diverse communities, truly multi-cultural.
The work tracks the different cultural traces of the city’s past. Materials from national and international archives and sources combined with concurrent historical events and changes, and dominant trends in the rest of Europe.
In a context of dark elements, the only colour, an ugly electric green, appears in a print depicting a rat lying dead on an urban square. The dead rodents often stand for a city's misfortunes and disasters.