Chase the Dragon
I was born in Volos and have lived there most of my life. As a professional photographer, based in a provincial city, I have experienced its professional and social limitations. My identity was formed through them. By seeking ways out, I made up a place of images, which slowly and steadily led me from the city’s surroundings to my self-centre.
My Sunday strolls turned into attempts to observe and discover the area. Random encounters were transformed into photographic notes, within a web of silhouettes and extraordinary synapses with all my surroundings. In the mountains and forests encircling me, I dreamt about coming close to Chiron, the herbs and secrets of the pagan life, the shadows and beams of light, the archetypes and the tricks of the unconscious, the chase of the Dragon.
That is where the human element meets nature. Sometimes directly, by incorporating the humans within it, thus creating a hybrid, and sometimes indirectly, by allowing nature alone create silhouettes and images.
This project reflects the unnatural feeling of the urban setting; the escape within the stillness. It searches for little secrets, not only those implied behind their hideouts, but also those that are visible and exposed as an essential part of their environment.
All images © Nickolas Chryssos
