Archaeological sites seen by drone, Marathon as a place of daily use, which exceeds its historical burden, landscapes disturbed by the anguish of refugees who have crossed or temporarily inhabited them in recent years, the Lassithi plateau covered by the frost of history, image canvases with micro-landscapes of endemic flora, places under the influence of tourism and human residential intervention, landscapes in the aftermath of the fire, landscapes with the dominant element of water, are just some of the elements captured in the photographs of the 19 photographers in the exhibition-production of MOMus - Thessaloniki Museum of Photography entitled "landscape stories".

The exhibition, which is housed at the Municipal Gallery of Chania and will run from April 6 to May 31, 2024, attempts to present contemporary approaches to the Greek landscape, examining its natural and peri-urban version and not its urban one. Emphasis is placed on works from the last two decades, while at the same time attempting to highlight the work of a generation of younger or less established artists in the domestic landscape canon. In this way, both the breadth of the country's photographic scene and the concerns regarding the commonplace landscape, environmental protection, the involvement of the landscape with history and myth, the critical reading of the tourist phenomenon, etc. are revealed.

The Municipal Gallery of Chania has over time implemented creative synergies with museums and cultural institutions, thus confirming its important role as a dynamic center on the cultural map of the country. In this context, the exhibition “landscape stories” is also being hosted, produced by MOMus-Thessaloniki Museum of Photography, which manages to capture characteristic landscapes of the country through modern photographic perspective. Thus, the audience of the Chania Art Gallery and the large photographic community of Crete have the opportunity to interact with a set that highlights not only the artistic value of photography but also the uniqueness of each gaze. 

The curator of the exhibition, Hercules Papaioannou, points out the origins of landscape painting and its application in Greece: “Landscape painting emerged as a side project in the background of paintings in the early Renaissance, but as an autonomous subject it was established only in the mid-16th century. In Greece, it appeared in the last quarter of the 19th century and was established, with at least naturalistic fidelity, in the 20th thanks to photography. The 19th century had been preceded by the widespread circulation of the photographic landscape with ruins, which validated the modern Greek ideology of antiquities.

The work of Swiss photographer Fred Boissonnas and Nelly's, dating to the early 20th century and the interwar period respectively, played a key role: immersed in history, folklore, and mythology, it contributed to turning landscape, even devoid of ruins, into a pillar of the official national narrative, along with the aura of the illustrated periodicals of the time, which by then had started publishing amateur landscape photographs. In the post-war period, the island landscape, in both its actual and picture versions, was used as a vehicle to promote mass tourism. They were followed by worthy photographers, who recorded many different aspects of landscape photography in the country.

Curated by: Hercules Papaioannou
Assistant curator: George Anastasakis

Participating photographers: Pericles Boutos, Panos Charalambidis - Mary Chairetaki, Katerina Digoni Konstantinos Gdontakis, Kostas Kapsianis, Petros Koublis, Demetris Koilalous, Yiannis Koukourakis, Ioannis Konstantinou, Babis Kougemitros, liana Meintani, Rea Papadopoulou, Kosmas Pavlidis, Achilleas Tilegrafos, Konstantinos Tountas, Marinos Tsagkarakis, Jeff Vanderpool, Yorgos Yatromanolakis

The exhibition is accompanied by a bilingual catalog, guided tours for the public and educational activities, which will be announced. 

Co-organizer: MOMus-Thessaloniki Museum of Photography
Hospitality Sponsor: Samaria Hotel
Event Sponsor: Loupaki Estate
Accessibility Equipment Sponsor: Medical Shop

The exhibition will operate according to the summer opening hours of the Municipal Gallery of Chania:
Monday to Saturday, hours: 10:00 -14:00 & 19:00-22:00
Sunday: Closed (except for organized tours)