Time for independent photography. Artist in Residence in Leonidio.

LatoMeio Project

The Martian Chronicles LAB II

One Month in Greece - February - March 2020.

The other day I was chatting with greek performance artist Eleni Danesi over a coffee. I had the idea of getting out of Berlin for a couple of weeks, escaping the grey Berlin winter and taking some time just for me and my photography. So we came to the agreement that we were goning to do that together. Eleni invited me to her home village Leonidio on the Peoponnes. Also we invited about 10 other artists of various fields to work together during 10 intense days. Eleni hat done the first edition of this artist residency two years prior under the name “LatoMeio Project”. An overall theme was set – in this case it was based on the book “The Martian Chronicles” by Ray Bradbury.

In early february 2020 I headed for Athens and then by bus to Leonidio. The first two weeks were for me to discover the area on foot, by bike, by car. And with my camera of course.
At the end of the month the other artist arrived and the intense phase of the project started.
It has been a totally new and very challenging and rewarding experience for me.

The first two weeks that I spent galavanting I have been focussing on nature, landscape, trees, flowers….

The anemones were in full bloom at that time.
Also I fell in love with the magical olive trees all over the peloponnese landscapes.

After these about 2 1/2 weeks of exploring and just taking pictures for fun, the actual residency phase started. In the course of that several series came out of the cooperation with performance artists, film makers and costume designers.
We spent the days at various places near the village. But mostly at LatoMeio, a quarry a few kilometers away which is owned by Elenis grandfather.

Model “LatoMeio” by Dina Danesi

Resi Bender

Eleni Danesi

Artes Mobiles

More images from this project here: “Meet the Martians”

“Performing Hemp” was another series that I shot on one of the lasts days at LatoMeio. We had planned a big bonfire for the evening and the performers spent the day creating costumes. Eleni hat brought a big pile of hemp that was to be turned into Resis costume. Resi jumped in the material, stared moving and the pile came to life.
Costume and idea: Eleni Danesi and Resi Bender (Model).

More images here: “Performing Hemp”

My personal highlight was the big fire that was celebrated that same night at the quarry. Out of a variety of materials, brought and found, the witches emerged and danced with the flames.

More images from “The Witches Dance”

This winter stay at Leonido was so much fun and such a good time to explore and practice. I am proud of the results that came out and happy about all the good talks, interesting people and productive cooperations. That was such an inspiration. I really hope it will a first of many!