Isola
The second part of a three-part suite of photographs and accompanying texts reflecting on the idea of the island as an existential condition. The images were photographed at the opposite ends of Europe, in the Western Isles of Scotland and the islands of the Northern Aegean, acknowledging the fact that my life is defined, respectively, by my family origins in the Greek island of Chios and the Scottish island of Arran, where I now live.
Resonating with the etymology of the word 'island', the series was begun in April - May 2020, in a period of enforced isolation on Arran during the first coronavirus lockdown in the UK. The detachment afforded by living through this period lead me to begin reflecting on the experience of living between islands and on my own transnational identity as an islander and photographer. This has lead me since then to find find parallels between islands at the extreme of Europe to the point where, in this work, they merge to become the Island that defines my experience and imagination as a European.
The first instalment of Isola was published in 2020 and is also available on this website.
The composer, Electra Perivolaris (https://www.electraperivolariscomposer.com/) has based a song-cycle on Isola for a 2023 album project and series of performances, in collaboration with the soprano, Héloïse Bernard https://www.heloisebernard.com/).
