A series of urban landscape photographs was showcased by photographer Olga Deikou within the framework of the SNFCC Green Weekend | Ideas for a Green City, at the Mediterranean Garden of the Stavros Niarchos Park. The exhibition Vacant Lots, in an architectural design by Giorgos Rymenidis (Assistant Professor, Department of Architectural Engineering, University of Ioannina), includes 21 photos taken during the period 2018-2022.

“These works portray the urban landscape, which we constantly meet, pass by, get bored of; for some it can even be repulsive. However, this monotony and repetition we encounter within dense building areas, posed a challenge for me as an artist: to stand before them, to feel and to imagine, while watching vacant lots and buildings mundane and undervalued at first glance. After all, the qualitative definition of the word monotony, even in the science of mathematics, is a rare constant. This repetition and monotony of the gray urban landscape, in contrast with the lush green scenery I grew up in Florina, always triggered ambivalent and blurry feelings inside of me. I began to stand before it, to feel, to observe, and I finally got to pick up my camera,” she explains.

Whatever captured by the lens of Olga Deikou is situated in present time, in Thessaloniki, even though similar snapshots can be traced in all major urban centers. Many shots are taken from a low angle, even depriving the frame of the sky’s presence; as if the object portrayed in the photo is crashed. Faces are absent or take the form of a silhouette. “My aim, through these seemingly unattractive building areas, the secret vacant lots (that entail so many people’s stories who may not wish to be exposed), and the monotonous gray of the cities, is to express my emotional and imaginary world. It is an inner need, to unearth beauty there. That’s what I stand for as an artist. To depict clarity, dignity, the truth and the beauty, in places where we are convinced they do not exist.”

The relation of Olga Deikou with photography is not limited in the professional scope. “The need for expression through photography has always been a weapon, a force to overcome obstacles, the difficulties I face. Moreover, it armed me with a sense of certainty offered by the distance of the camera, so as to observe the world. It has always been a way for me to safely connect with the world,” she concludes.