Inner State By Maria Mavropoulou

Greek photographer Maria Mavropoulou’s ‘Inner State’ is a series of landscapes covered by a thick fog, a metaphor for the societal mood in Greece after years of recession and crisis.

The Athens-based photographer aims to document the current Greek situation through her eerie images. Deserted spaces such as empty highways, sports stadiums, and a rotten watermelon field are used to represent a distorted image of a once-strong Greek nationalism. “In this stagnant space, in this gap between eras, familiar Greek landscapes look bizarre, cut off the real world, pending for their unknown fate”, explains the photographer. ‘Inner State’ plays with the perception of the viewer to represent a bygone era of growth. The horizon in each image is hidden behind thick fog, preventing the viewer from seeing what the looming future holds ahead, both literally and metaphorically. Quoting Italian philosopher Antonio Gramsci, Mavropoulou speaks of the morbid power structures that exist in today’s world. This quote brings into question that perhaps it’s not fog we see, but rather something more sinister.

All images © Maria Mavropoulou