A ceremony of mourning. For years, I did not wish to admit that what drove me in this project was the sorrow I feel every time I enter this beautiful yet exploited, wounded, and dangerous land for its inhabitants. Following the line of the sea, the edge between sky and underworld, I draw lines between sky and earth, imagining horizons within what feels like a dead land, to remember the loss. I am mourning the life that could have inhabited this place. I borrow the title from an ongoing invitation to friends to bring me a stone when they travel. The invitation is simple: “If you remember a stone, one that fits your hands and catches your attention.” I bring these stones and their stories to the mines of Lavrio and, together with friends, we draw lines with tape and small porcelain traces. I wish to carry these stories with me and share them like a spell where grief might not be the end.
Lavrio, a mining region since antiquity on the coast of Attica, is marked by a complex and layered history. In my research, stones become fragments of the land’s memory and of the people who lived and worked in the mines. I look for gestures and clues that reveal their personal relationships with the land and its minerals.
Through ephemeral performative gestures in the landscape, I attempt to feel and listen closely to the land.
Part of Lavreotiki Art Project curated by Amalia Charikiopoulou
Performers: Elianna Otta, Isa Gutierrez Sanchez, Maria Juliana Byck, Θάλια Δημητροπουλου
Photography adviser: Nuno Cassola