Greek country side timeless convention, photo essay by Maria Kanata

Greek country side timeless convention

Candia Greece, May 2018

A series of conservative conventions linking provincial life to a seeming, capable consistency. These conventions are strictly respected by the majority of the people in the country.

The first basic convention is the diptych family and religion.

On Sunday mornings the “decent” gentlemen and the “virtuous” ladies join the established congregation as well as wearing their best clothes to watch all kinds of celebrations. This phenomenon also happens in Athens to a lesser extent, especially for those people who carry the province inside their consciousness, but they are lost in the anonymous city of the many performances and contrasts.

The idea of the “good” family man is clearly being facilitated in the province.

The family here it reminds us of the old motif: the couple, the grandchildren, the grandparents, the grandmothers, live close to each other and support each other.

As a rule, the Greek provinces are very conservative. Under a mask of decency and defiance, there are well hidden many secrets and numerous malignancies.

Iria Greece Jenuary 2017

In the provinces it is normal to have a lot of hairdressers, coffee shops, in almost every square there is one of these shops, but unfortunately there are few degraded cinemas, and of course there are no spaces for theatrical performances or cultural centres. There are some groups fighting for cultural life but I think there is something deeper that does not change with cultural events which look like folklore and secular events.

The provinces are permeated vertically and horizontally by a subculture of what some gifted artists and intellectuals aptly report as ”provincialbaroque” (βλαχομπαρόκ) (Tzimis Panousis, Dionisis Savvopoulos, Manos Hatzidakis, Vasilis Rafalidis and many others).

Candia Greece April 2016

This subculture is unfortunately not easily eradicated, and the responsibility of the political system is enormous because it has never renounce it and never condemn these phenomena.

In Greek provinces, where people consider beautiful hair and tinted nails more important, appearance and money as highest social value.

To be ‘someone’ in the Greek province, you have to be able to make lots of money in any way …For example by selling our beaches and filling them with umbrellas and deck chairs, selling rivers, mountains, even the sea. Every value is nullified in this country and that hurts.