The photographic exhibition “Mystery 139 Alienation”

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From May 11 to June 18, 2023 the 2023 European Capital of Culture Eleusis presents at the Leonidas Kanellopoulos Cultural Centre the photographic exhibition Mystery 139 Alienation. A travelogue through the eyes of photographer Vangelis Gkinis curated by Vaggelis Tatsis, an audiovisual research through which the artist studies the world of work with a focus on the working class in Greece.

Starting from Elefsina, the city where he lives and works, Vangelis Gkinis travelled for six months across the country, covering a total of 4,755 kilometres and visiting 13 cities in Greece to talk to and photograph 28 workers from different industries, their workplaces and their personal belongings. The journey began, for historical and symbolic reasons, from Syros and Neorio, where in 1879 the first labour union in Greece, the Brotherhood Association of Carpenters of the Syros Shipyard, was founded. Megalopolis, Tripoli, Patras and Volos followed. Then, Velestino, Larissa, Thessaloniki, Larymna, while the research was completed – of course – West Attica, the photographer’s place of origin and the main place of concentration of industrial activity in Greece.

Gkinis chooses to place his portraits on country roads, foggy landscapes, desolate fields, highlighting the difficulties faced daily by the modern worker of the 21^st century, the conditions that cause physical and psychological exhaustion. He even ensures to visually cut the worker off from the large industrial complexes, the offices, his workplaces – places of forced action and not creative work, according to him – thus suggesting the sense of alienation of the worker from the object of his work, which results in his alienation from his fellow human beings and, ultimately, from himself.

For Gkinis, the presentation of Mystery 139 Alienation in Elefsina does not constitute the completion of this audiovisual research. It would never be completed as the world of work and the difficulties it faces are still relevant. On the other hand, through his work, the photographer aspires to remind us of the constant relevance of the issue he deals with, to highlight it, to contribute to the public debate, to discuss it and to reflect on it.