The Lake

 

To illustrate the 14-part drawing installation The Lake, a short sequence of images has been created, watch here 

The full loop can be viewed here.


 

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To illustrate the 14-part drawing installation The Lake, a short sequence of images has been created – the full loop can be viewed here.
The series of 14 landscape drawings forms a continuous panorama, evoking early forms of visual entertainment such as panoramas, which preceded cinema. First exhibited in Athens in 2021, the series was created to mark the 200th anniversary of Greek independence.

The cycle was inspired by two historical sources: drawings by European Grand Tour travelers (1776–1889) and the travel writings of the Ottoman scholar Evliya Çelebi (1611–1682). While the Grand Tour presents a rational, Western view of the ancient landscape, Çelebi describes the same regions as mythical and multilayered—rich in wonders, faith, and oral traditions.

The drawings oscillate between these perspectives, seeking a connection with modern Greece. Historical Grand Tour templates are extended to form a continuous panorama—featuring a recurring Acropolis and a lake from which children emerge, seemingly the only inhabitants of this heightened landscape.

The Lake exposes the Western appropriation of Greece, carried out not only by European visitors but also by Greek elites. The country, with its unique past, became a mirror for Western fantasies of classical antiquity—an idea reminiscent of Frantz Fanon’s thoughts on colonial self-subjugation. The cycle questions the tension between the idealized Western vision and the culturally complex reality of the Eastern Mediterranean.

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