Life Twists

A dreamy look into the life of a city-raised young woman in western Greece who becomes a livestock breeder after finishing art school.

“Life Twists” intends to explore questions about self-determination and commitment into one’s dream. In contemporary western society, where most of the population decides to pursue happiness and success in big cities, the decision to live in the countryside and be a livestock breeder by choice is not very common amongst young people, -especially when they have been raised in a city and have completed university studies. However, this is the case for Poulcheria, a young woman in the north of Greece.

Pulcheria was my classmate in the Fine Arts School in Ioannina, northern Greece and I have always admired her free and creative spirit. Back then we spent hours listening to music, watching movies, speaking about art and relationships, travelling, dreaming, exchanging letters, cooking, growing up. After graduation we lost contact for 5 five years as each of us tried to find our ways. Back in 2010 I left her doing mixed media art. When we met again in late 2015, together with her partner she was a professional livestock breeder, - to my eyes doing art with her life.

Since then I have been visiting her frequently trying to capture fragments of the beauty of her commitment to her decision to follow her dream and build a way of life in direct relation with nature, a type of life reconciled with the circle of life and death. The scanned artworks that appear in the series were made by Poulcheria. Today Poulcheria is a mother and she is ready to radically change her life once more.