Photographer Georgios Makkas and the Archaeology of Now: Greece’s Recession in 25 Storefronts
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Gregory Pappas
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Photographer Georgios Makkas and the Archaeology of Now: Greece’s Recession in 25 Storefronts
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.”
A closed shop named Marabu on Agathonos Street Athens that used to sell women’s accessories
A closed down watch shop on Sokratous Street Athens
A closed down shop on Kleisthenous Street Athens that used to sell medical equipment, the sign reads Hippocratio
A closed down paper shop on Kleisthenous Street Athens
A closed down bakery on 21st Fevrouariou Street in Ioannina
A closed down clothes shop on Anexartisias Street in Ioannina
A closed down furniture shop on Anexartisias Street in Ioannina
A closed shop on Sofokleous Street in Athens, the sign reads “Zafolia Brothers”
An abandoned petrol station on Thiseos Street in Kallithea district of Athens
A closed down shop that used to sell woolen fabrics on Frontzou Street in Ioannina
A closed down funeral home on 21st Fevrouariou Street in Ioannina
A closed down baby clothes shop on Frontzou Street in Ioannina
A closed down drilling and quarry equipment shop with a “to rent sign” on Makrygianni Street in Ioannina
A closed down frozen food shop on 21st Fevrouariou Street in Ioannina
A closed down electrical equipment shop on Praxitelous Street in Athens with the name ILEKTROM
An old travel agency on Makedonikis Aminis Street in Thessaloniki
A closed photocopy shop on Plateia Theatrou in Athens with an older sign “O Kostas”
A closed down shop in Athens city centre. The sign reads “Dressmaking Accessories- Mihalopoulos”
An electrical equipment shop on Aminta Street in Thessaloniki
A closed down butcher shop on Ioulianou Street in Thessaloniki
A closed shop on Sofokleous Street in Athens that used to sell cheese-pies, custard-pies, pizzas with the name Zorbas
A shop on Filippou Street in Thessaloniki. The sign reads “Panidis”, the name of the former owner
A carpenters workshop on Olimpou Street in Thessaloniki
A closed down video club on Filippou Street in Thessaloniki
A closed down electrical equipment shop from the 1980s in Ioannina
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