Ησυχαστηριο (hermitage) is the place I usually go when I want to clear my mind and my thoughts. From a young age, that place was always the sea, where I could stare at the never-ending archipelagos, forgetting instantly anything that was holding me back.
When I moved to the Netherlands the previous September to do my master’s in photography at kabk, I felt that only when I was on the seaside part, I have again a warm feeling like I was near home. The smell of the sea, the strong winds, the infinite sandy beach, everything made me feel so vulnerable but also at the same time, so alive. These places became my "salvation" spot, where I could go when I was overcharged by my daily obligations.
Last November, I went to the Atlantikwall Museum in Den Haag. I was amazed and disgusted by the idea that Scheveningen was, during the Second World War, a ghost town (all the citizens were moved out and it was like a sort of "rehabilitation center" for Nazis, who were injured in the battlefront). This information made me have a different approach to how I viewed these seaside towns: now I found an eeriness in those places like something mysterious was/is in the air.
Photography is an incredibly powerful medium: it has the ability to craft narratives, influence emotions, and share perspectives. Yet, it also holds the potential to manipulate, deceive, or distort reality. Given this duality, trusting a photograph as an absolute truth is both challenging and risky. It is within this context that I am drawn to creating post-truth narratives, where the line between fact and fiction becomes deliberately blurred.
I started photographing these seaside towns in order to "catch" this eeriness. I wanted to create a new imaginary space, where weirdness and closeness could be on the same ground (that's why I named it Ησυχαστηριο (hermitage), because I try to redefine this idea in a more personal challenging way).
I chose to use my MJU point-and-shoot camera. Unlike other forms of expression, there’s no need to overthink camera settings or plan every shot when you use this type of medium. You simply open the lens and capture the moment. Most of the time, it’s a spontaneous, instinctive process with no conscious deliberation, allowing me to express my feelings more freely.
