Portfolio created: 2016
The industrial landscape of Eleusis was addressed on the basis of photographic interpretation of the buildings under the same lighting conditions. The industrial compounds were photographed shortly after sundown avoiding shadowing. This approach enriched industrial buildings with features of timeless sculptural qualities as the undermining of time recording rendered their architectural quality as the key figure of photographic composition downplaying their function: the viewer is not aware which factory ended shift and called it a night a while ago and which one closed years ago, remaining an empty shell ever since.
The invitation to produce art photography for the needs of exhibition Industrial Eleusis: people and factories extended quite a demanding invitation. The industrial infrastructure photographed were met in different moments of their life circle: among them one can find industries that are fully operational, some in painful anticipation of their eminent future and others that are for ever lost; their only trace of existence is their remaining abandoned shell.
As a result, the photographic interpretation attempted to approach the emblematic buildings of heavy industry firms of great historical importance as monuments of Eleusis city which recall the important labor and entrepreneurship past while signaling the great future potential of the place. The photographs of Eleusis factories, which were considered home for thousand of the workers for their entire lives and propelled the city into becoming a key industrial center of the country, avoid the temptation of first level nostalgic approach of a glorious past, nor do they try to beautify its flaws.
Instead, they propose a rational assessment of an industrial landscape that despite difficult working conditions produced goods and wealth that shaped the life each and every one of us experienced, offering jobs and a hope of a better future to come. It remains to be seen whether the photographs exhibited will carry the basic potential qualities of the country to invent new solutions and stands up to the expectations when faced with dire conditions. They are the latest photographic record of Eleusis’ industrial heritage just a few days before the city was anointed the European Capital of Culture for 2021 under the title Eleusis2021-Go to euphoria.