Light Matters

Covid-19 pandemic impacted and still impacts our lives in many different ways.

“Light Matters” is a series of photographs that were created from March 2020 to May 2021, in my effort to stay connected with myself and find inner balance by defining what was important to me during this period of time.

Starting to photograph every day since the beginning of the pandemic, was an intuitive personal response to ‘’fight-flight or freeze’’ mechanism that was automatically activated with the strict restrictions, continuous lockdowns and the many losses we all faced in different levels.

It was also a way of self-exploration during a time of shadows, that helped me deal with my inner shadows.

The stage of these photographs was the daily itinerary from my house to the nearby park in my neighborhood, during the long and strict quarantine, or on the same beach I frequented during the 2020 summer, when transportation to other areas of Athens was permitted. 

 “Can I continue being calm and peaceful within a repeated and restrictive routine, while my external reality is dramatically changing?” 

 “Can I remain connected to myself?” 

 Thirty-five photographs and four personal “Road stories”, consist the portfolio and book “Light Matters”, giving an answer to the above questions through a process of internal reflection, introspection, self-expression and with the words of the Nobel awarded poet Odysseas Elytis in mind; 

“The matter is from where one sees the sky. I have seen it from amidst the sea”.

Self-published in July 2021- limited edition of 70 copies

Handmade linen hard cover, 17cm Χ 22,5 cm, 104 pages

Texts & photos by @Sophia Tsoumaki

Sequencing & editing by Sophia Tsoumaki & Olga Stefatou

Book coordination by Lambros Papanikolatos