Maria Pateraki
“Landscape is non-existent; it is a construction of our civilization and a fabrication of our minds”.
During the quarantine I started shooting more regularly the urban and exurban areas of the city I live in as I had access to them on foot or by bike, which happen to be the only means of transport that we were allowed to use.
This resulted in a large number of photographs that are a recording of the situation which probably exists in every provincial town in Greece. In Chania this collection is particularly rich due to the diverse activities of its residents.
In this project I keep the blurring of boundaries between public and private space and I take advantage photographically of the unexpected objects in these spaces which adds up to the building of the portrait of this place.
Features such as bigotry, jingoism-extreme nationalism, environmental abuse, lack of aesthetic quality, trespassing of public spaces, the contractors’ avarice are evident.
A confused society that, instead of moving ahead, goes backwards with the greatest possible speed because “that’s the way it likes it”.
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