With Greece entering its 6th year of recession tens of thousands of small business have already closed, and many more are about to close. The Greek economy has shrunk by 25% in the last 5 years and this is very visible in the cities where every second shop has closed down.
Georgios Makkas, a professional photographer and videographer— and a victim of the recession himself having recently relocated to London, has eerily captured images of a Greece that once was, on his iPhone. View Makkas’ portfolio here.
Makkos’ work has appeared in numerous international magazines and newspapers and he’s won awards for his creativity and work. Awarded one of the 16 young Greek photographers of the year 1998 and in 2002, his documentary project about the depopulation of rural Albania won the first prize in the Observer Hodge photographic award in London. In 2009 and 2010 he participated in the artist in residence program SETSE – Seeing Europe Through a Stranger’s Eyes – at the Academy of Fine Arts in Poznan, Poland.
Shops where generations of merchants had run successful businesses are disappearing and together with them, the post WWII Greek dream— the family run shop— is coming to an end. In some cases bars and fast food restaurants are opening in their place, but usually the spaces remain empty.
Makkos explains: “All of the pictures are taken with an iPhone while I was walking in the centres of Athens, Ioannina and Thessaloniki as a quick note to myself of how the cityscape used to be.”
1 comment
Love your Pictures