NANUU, the Call of the Gioni

(Work in progress)

A gioni (otus scops) is a bird with a characteristic song that sounds like a whistle “gioon”. In Greek myth a man who killed his brother out of resentment calling him as a bird every evening.

“Nanuu” is about the Beauty and the Hardness of surviving in relation to nature and its laws.

It is about listening to the values developed by communities who lived - and survived for generations - in remote regions. There, where the rules of nature and of community seem crucial, indistinct but in a magical way caring for its sustainability and survival.

It is about values I have been apprenticed to by my Greek origin, feeling them regulating life with severity but kindness. Passed on through myths and oral tradition, through songs and rituals, being taught in a non-abusive, non-binary way.

In nowadays post-technological times I feel them threatened, wounded, extincted but resisting in a permanent struggle for life, for dignity and freedom.

The pictures for “Nanuu” were taken following the backbone mostly of the Pindus Mountain Range, travelling on dirt roads off the beaten paths.

Irina Vosgerau, October 2021

Notes:

“Nanuu” is a photobook project

Materials: Photography, Diary, ArchivePhotos, Maps, Text