I Made Surreal Images Of My Town, Thessaloniki, To Show Its Secret History

I am a fine art photographer living in Thessaloniki, Greece. In my pictures, I like to show a different kind of reality.

I was always drawn to what others overlook. Living in Thessaloniki for the last 18 years, I started discovering aspects of it that were unknown to most people, even locals. These unknown stories of the city led me to create a series of images, where I present these hidden aspects, in my own way.

I chose nine locations in Thessaloniki and the greater area. They are places which everyone knows, but at the same time, they do not. In the images that I created, I highlight each location by creating a different story, using elements of surrealism. The location is the main protagonist, while the human presence acts complementary.

Along each image, there is a text with information about the respective story. This way “unseen Thessaloniki” surfaces and waits for you to meet her.

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This is the Salem mansion. It is located in a part of Thessaloniki which was known as the “Countryside district”, outside the city’s walls.

The “pasha’s gardens” is a park with some strange stone constructions, with no evidence about who made them and for what purpose.

During the ottoman domination this area belonged to a Turkish bey. After the Minor Asia catastrophe in 1922, Greek refugees came to settle here and named the place “Peraia”.

Pavlos Melas camp was built between 1890 and 1905. The older part of the camp dates back to the last years of the Ottoman empire. During the german occupation it was a place of executions.

The byzantine watermills are part of a 12-watermill system that was developed in byzantine times along the stream, which sprang from mountain Hortiatis and ended up in Thermaikos gulf.

The train cemetery has been in N. Ionia, Thessaloniki for at least 30 years now. Thousands of abandoned train wagons lie still like ghosts, on ten abandoned train tracks.

Lake Koroneia lies some kilometers outside Thessaloniki. Before it started losing its water it was the fifth largest lake in Greece. In the summer of 2007, 30.000 birds died and in 2008 the lake dried out.

Zeitenlik, which means “olive grove” in turkish, lies near Lagada st. about 1.5 km north of Vardaris square. It is the biggest military necropolis in Greece since the end of WWI.

The Delasalle grove is what remains of the once majestic estate of the infamous Djeck Abbott. Even Sultan Abdul Mejid himself (almost) visited in 1858.

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