Demetris Koilalous
Caesura - The Duration of a Sigh
CAESURA is a collection of photographs about the transitory state of refugees and migrants who have entered Greece after crossing the Aegean Sea on their way to Europe. Typically CAESURA manifests a brief silent pause in the middle of a poetic verse or a musical phrase used in this context as a metaphor for a silent break amid two violent and distressed periods. The characters of CAESURA have a temporary identity as they stand in front of the camera in a state of transition and uncertainty, transmitting an ambiguous feeling of restlessness and tranquility; emanating a sense of intemporality and durability as if they have existed beyond time. They almost suspend on the verge of name and anonymity, standing determined between two discontinuous moments. The surrounding space remains reclusive and undisclosed -without distinct landmarks, yet at the same time it is an actual and relevant topographic context. It is a space “amidst”, caught in a transitory time “in-between”. CAESURA is a collection of personal narratives and private moments of people who are caught in an intermediate and neutral space, pausing before they continue their journey. At the same time they build and shield those temporary microcosms, which they create en route as a mainstay of their identity and culture. But behind the stereotypical nameless mask of the ‘refugee’, these are the portraits of the new European citizens bearing with them the melancholy of their past and the hardship of their route, while demonstrating a determination to place themselves in a new global reality and a commitment to negate the anonymity of History. CAESURA does not attempt to provide answers or simply make a historic statement about this phenomenal mass exodus by exposing the human agony but it rather raises questions about human condition and identity.
