PLACES
OF TRANSITION
Borders and edges have long been places of tension, where cultures, histories, and identities intersect and overlap. In Greece, a country with a long and complex history of migration, trade, and conflict, the borders and edges of the territory are particularly significant. By focusing on the border areas and their stories, the project aims to offer a diversified and multi-layered portrait of Greece, challenging simplistic notions of identity and belonging. Through this project, “Places of Transition,” we seek to contribute to a broader discussion about the complexity of borders and edges and their role in shaping our world today.
The “Places of Transition” project is a visual exploration of the four geographical extremes of Greece, namely the villages of the Tri-border area of northern Evros, Gavdos, Kastellorizo, and Othoni. The program is based on the art of photography as a means of capturing the visual subjectivity of the landscape, the people, and the interior spaces. Four photographers documented the four extreme points of Greek territory.
The northernmost point of Greece, the Tri-border area of Evros, consists of 8 villages and is located at the borders between Greece, Turkey, and Bulgaria, photographed by Haris Kakarouhas and Foteianna Linardou. This is a region marked by conflicts and population displacements. In recent years, the area has experienced intense influxes of refugees and migrants escaping economic deprivation, war, and persecution in the Middle East and Africa. This has brought the issue of border control to the forefront of political and social discussions, highlighting the complexities and challenges faced by the residents of these border villages.
The southernmost point, Gavdos, was photographed by Anna Paraskevidou and Symeon Chatzilidis. The island holds unique cultural and historical significance as it was a place of exile both during the interwar period and the civil war. The artists focused on the memories of individuals and their intergenerational roots, as the island, being an “edge,” served as a place of exile, on the close relationship between people and the sea, and on the strategic position of the island in the eastern Mediterranean.
The easternmost point of Greece, Kastellorizo, was photographed by Haris Kakarouhas. Kastellorizo, with a population of about 500 inhabitants, is of particular interest as its history is intertwined with the continuous movements of its residents due to trade and migration. The artist focused on the island’s rich maritime heritage, its strategic position in the Eastern Mediterranean, and the close relationship between people and the sea.
The westernmost point of Greece, the island of Othoni in the Ionian Sea, was photographed by Anna Paraskevidou and Symeon Chatzilidis. Othoni is an island with a population of about 350 inhabitants. Othoni has a rich history, with evidence of human habitation dating back to the Neolithic period. The island has been shaped by centuries of trade, piracy, and colonization, which have left their marks on its culture and architecture. The artists explored the rich history and cultural heritage of the island, shaped by its position at the crossroads of the Mediterranean.
The purpose of the project was to map the border areas of Greece and construct a visual narrative of the human geography of the borders, while simultaneously recording the diverse characteristics of the cultural diversity present in our country.
The goal is to present the result to both the people we documented and the national audience, to understand the complex and multi-layered relationships that structure the border areas, how borders shape human geography, and the role they play in our understanding of the world around us.
We hope the artistic material will serve as a mirror of consciousness for an in-depth understanding of our identity.
The project is funded and supported by the Ministry of Culture
and is a collaboration between the Art Traces and Luminous Eye.
For further information & purchase enquiries please contact:
Symeon Chatzilidis
+30 6934482149
Haris Kakarouhas
+30 694 4836717
Anna Paraskevidou was born in a Greek-speaking village in Armenia in 1988 and moved to Greece with her family in 1992 after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
She is a graduate of Democritus University of Thrace, Department of Rural Development, and is continuing
her studies in the Digital Marketing Master’s Program at the International University. With a rich background in photography since 2011, she has exhibited her work in various solo and group exhibitions.
As a first-generation immigrant, she studies visually how individuals are in a constant search for identity, both personally and on a broader social level. The large-scale population movements we observe today have intensified this search for her. Photography serves as a means of doc- umenting her daily life and an expression of her identity on a practical level.
She perceives identity as a concept that combines people, lands, memories, and time. Through her photographs, she seeks to document incidents related to her personal experi- ences and her interaction with the people around her. Her photography documents potential memories and highlights her quest for understanding and managing her personal experiences.
She is a co-founder of Art Traces.
mob. +30 6955811332
Simeon Chatzilidis has studied Photography, European Culture, and has a postgraduate degree in Local History. He lives and works in Rotterdam, Netherlands.
His works explore concepts such as memory, oblivion, and identity, as well as how these are structured within contemporary environments. Through creating images, he aims to establish a dual environment where, on one hand, there is the decay of mnemonic traces due to finite time, and on the other hand, memory is enacted within mne- monic places, persistently present and functioning as an individual tool for constructing collective identity. Simultaneously, he studies and depicts ethno-topical communities and cultural groups of people living in fluid landscapes, where space as an “object” of observation cannot be represented “objectively.”
His work has been exhibited in solo and group shows and has contributed images to various art publications.
He is a co-founder of Art Traces.
mob. +30 6934482149
Haris Kakarouhas was born in Athens. He studied Car- tography at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Visual Perception and Color Theory at the University of Glasgow (M.Sc), and Photography at the University of Derby (Ph.D) (with a dissertation titled “Portraiture: Depicting the Self”). He explored various forms of therapy through art, as well as other practices of modern psychotherapy.
The central theme governing his work as an artist, curator, and art educator is the continuous pursuit of representing the “core” or “truth” of human existence through visual means. By “core,” he refers to what exists and manifests beyond the narcissistic dysfunctions of what is commonly referred to as “personality”—something that is the subject of contemporary spiritual psychology.
His photographic work has been published in various magazines in Greece and abroad. Two photographic al- bums of his work have been published, titled “In the Paths of Time” and “Meteoros Chronos: A Portrait of Cuba.” The last has been published in six European countries. He has been awarded the European Publish Award, the “Milos” Award for Art Book of the Year in Greece, and was a finalist for the Schweppes Photographic Portrait Prize.
+30 694 4836717
Foteianna Linardou was born in Athens. She studied Economics at the International University of Greece and Photography at AKTO Art & Design College. Additionally, she studied bodywork and energy therapy at Natural Health Science, along with other alternative therapeutic practices at the Free4being Institute in the Netherlands and Osho Multiversity in India. She works as an alternative therapist.
For Foteianna, artistic photography exists as both an internal expression and a spiritual practice simultaneously. She creates images with the intention of becoming a mirror of her inner world, and this understanding gives her life sub- stantial meaning, transforming it from a pursuit of success into a path of consciousness.
mob. +30 693 2315576
Art Traces is a Non-Profit Civil Company focusing on activities related to art, culture, education, and environ- mental awareness. Our team consists of artists, academ- ics, researchers, collaborators, and volunteers of various capacities. Art Traces aims, through multimedia methods such as photography, video, music, historical and anthro- pological research, and educational programs, to record and capture the tradition, culture, and everyday life of in- dividuals and collectivities. Our goal is to study individual and collective memory and how it is represented in private and public spaces, to explore the concept of identity and self-identification, and to highlight the different cultural characteristics of individuals and their groups.
Insight Gaze - Community of Conscious Photography
Art as a Path to Consciousness.
Photography is the art of seeing. To see means to fully encounter what is in front of us. Besides visual perception, we have sensations and emotions, meaning we move together. Seeing, therefore, is a recognition. We recognize what we have within us; otherwise, we wouldn’t see it. Our photographic work is nothing but a mirror of our inner world. As Paul Klee says, “Art does not reproduce the visible; rather, it makes visible what has not been visible until now.” Thus, the process of photographing and viewing photos becomes an act of inner awareness.
This is the broader perception of art and the photographic process that the community (founded by Haris Kakarouhas) shares through workshops, photographic works, exhibitions, and books.