According to Simon Schama's book "Landscape and Memory", people maintain an emotional and spiritual relationship with their space, based on the memory of a mythical landscape deeply rooted in their history. This concerns the landscape of collective dreams that offers shelter and comfort, seals national identity, and provides an escape from everyday adversity. I feel this theory strongly in my home land in the mountain villages of Pindos in northern Greece.
Despite their historical significance, these landscapes have been abandoned by successive governments due to their association with the civil war, resulting in a lack of infrastructure and development. This made life extremely challenging, causing many people to leave for larger cities or live abroad.
However, people maintain a strong connection to these places and keep their homes alive. Even generations who have never lived there or have only spent summers there, feel a deep attachment to these villages as their homes.
This photographic work explores the relationship between the landscape of these abandoned villages and my memories, providing a personal perspective on the lives of those who once called these villages their homes.