Greek Dog Days

"[...] Most images depict abandoned houses with broken windows, unfinished building constructions, shut-down businesses, empty billboards or out-of-order petrol stations. In this post-apocalyptic world, humans are absent and only stray dogs wander the streets, looking at times back at the camera, surprised to find another species in such a wasteland. Tragically, these dystopian-like scenes are by no means fictional. Through its dozens of pages, Ilja Niederkirchner presents the urban relics of post-crisis Greece, with the yet unhealed wounds of its bleeding economy. [...]" - Dr. Paula Gortazar @paulagortazar for @c4journal "[...] A noir-ish insight into the effects of the Greek economic crisis on the urban landscape. Really nice work that grows on you in its simplicity and sincerity. [...]" - Sunil Shah @sunilphoto " [...] Greek Dog Days, however, goes beyond a mere documentation of the catastrophe. The publication points at its causes, aiming for action, clamouring for a revolution. [...]" - Dr. Paula Gortazar @paulagortazar for @c4journal

With every new photo of an empty storefront, I avoided my reflection in the shop window. A friend had told me about the furious, dog-tired faces of the people, worn down by the financial crisis.
But here, no one looked out the window. Only to put up signs: “For Sale,” “For Rent,” “Closed.”

I had hoped the crisis would reveal itself to me. In people. Perhaps in their eyes. As something shared. A collapse that makes everyone equal. But the people looked unchanged. They moved from A to B, as they always had.

So I photographed buildings.
A sequence of desolate shops, abandoned gas stations, unfinished concrete shells frozen in a single moment, as though the money had simply stopped coming one day and no one had ever returned.

The stray dogs became my companions. We wandered through the city. Like strays.

→ Buy the Book

→ Book Review

Exhibition Views

Artist Talk with Youvalle Levy from Replika Publishing

↑Back to Top