Marinos Tsagkarakis

Marinos Tsagkarakis (b. 1984, Greece) is a photographer based in Thessaloniki. Tsagkarakis studied Contemporary Photography at STEROSIS Photography School, Greece. He is a member of the collective Depression Era that inhabits the Urban and social landscapes of the economic crisis in Greece.

Non-places of transition

This project started as an examination of the landscape of the city of Thessaloniki, in Northern Greece. This city has always been considered as one of the most beautiful cities in Greece; atmospheric, erotic, mysterious and vividly multicultural. Because of the characteristic of multiculturalism, Thessaloniki for many decades of the 20th century played a central role in Macedonia and was the crossroad among the East, the Balkans and the Mediterranean. However, the lights and shine for Thessaloniki fell sharply a few years before Greece faced economic depression. Τhe current economic crisis has further aggravated the already difficult situation. It was just the beginning.

In 2009, the whole country entered a state of transition that extends to the present day, which is apparent at both national and international level. Every change in the social and economic situation of a region is reflected in its built environment. Small shops, entire neighborhoods and even greater areas that were, until recently, bustling with life, have been drastically affected by the recession.

Greece has become saturated with structures, spaces and landscapes which no longer hold any identity. Most of these structures, which stand physically present but largely overlooked, even by their own inhabitants, dangle between existence and the lack thereof.

This project deals with the transformation of this city from a multicultural, bright and vibrant city, into a place which is dominated by aesthetic and social decline. Moreover, it examines the expansion of this phenomenon to the whole country, as a result of the economic depression.

http://www.marinostsagkarakis.com/