These photographs investigate landscapes as states that are not restricted within the visible area in front of our eyes, but instead extend to endless distances, defined only by the way that we interpret ourselves and our surroundings. They are imaginary fields and actual realities at the same time, never-ending states and momentary revelations.
In November 2012, Petros Koublis started exploring the area just outside the outskirts of Athens, trying to reveal its gradual transformation from a – once familiar – natural landscape into a distant, otherworldly state. The fact that such landscapes can actually be found so near the city reveals the metaphors that every Landscape seems to bare. The photographs of this project were taken less than 30 miles away from the heart of the capital. Yet, in them, time seems to have moved at a different pace, manifesting some kind of mystery hidden amongst tree branches and sea waves. This is an alternate state in a parallel time, where silence seems to carry inside it a waiting, patiently whispering a language long forgotten.
This series of images aims at expressing the undefined, mystical presence that wanders around those areas, a lost connection between us and a beauty that always remains far, strange and unfamiliar. But it’s not only nature; eventually it’s beauty itself that has lost its intimate character, overtaken by the values of an artificial illusion that’s reflected through our collapsing cities. There is no eternal beauty but the eternity of nature that can reflect a new direction, maybe even a hope. It’s not a joyous silence but an inspiring one.
