Rocks bathed in moonlight. Expansive mountain ranges. Empty courtyards, littered with fallen fruit. These are photographs from Greek visual artist Ioanna Sakellaraki鈥檚 (b. 1989) new book, The Truth is in the Soil 鈥 a five-year exploration of grief and an elegy to her late father. Atmospheric images sit alongside poignant poetry and prose; amongst the most powerful entries is Dad is Dead, Come Back Home, which outlines the devastatingly unreal first minutes, hours and days after receiving news of his passing.
Over time, Sakellaraki鈥檚 personal project led her to explore loss on a wider scale. She became interested in acts of collective mourning and ritual lament in her native Greek society, which date back to ancient times but are now disappearing. 鈥淐onsidered an art, 鈥樷檓oirologia鈥欌 can be traced to the choirs of the Greek tragedies,鈥 she explains. 鈥淥ver the centuries, it became a profession exclusive to women.鈥 During shooting for The Truth is in the Soil, Sakellaraki spent time with the last communities of professional mourners.
These women live on the Mani peninsula 鈥 a region best known for its rugged cliffs and coastal villages. Throughout the series, their silhouettes appear against weathered horizons: shadowy figures overlaid on peeling wallpaper and cracked brickwork. Through manual and digital processes, Sakellaraki adds layers to what has been documented as real, rerouting the viewer through existing and imaginary spaces. In this way, the series acts as a visual representation of memory: what happens to the departed in our minds.
In 2021, a study commissioned by Marie Curie found 51% of people do not feel that, as a society, the UK talks enough about death and dying. At its core, this is what The Truth is in the Soil is about. It taps into humanity’s ongoing struggle for meaning, especially in the face of mortality. “In the wake of witnessing loss globally within our cultures and civilisations, I want to stimulate the viewer to rethink mortality,” says Sakellaraki. “To me, these images work as vehicles for mourning… creating a space where death can exist.”
The Truth is in the Soil is published by GOST.
Gallery until 21 May.
Words: Eleanor Sutherland
Image Credits:
1. From 鈥楾he Truth is in the Soil鈥, 2019 漏 Ioanna Sakellaraki
2. Thia Metamorfosis (holy transfiguration), from 鈥楾he Truth is in the Soil鈥, 2019 漏 Ioanna
Sakellaraki
3. Achlys (mist of death), from 鈥楾he Truth is in the Soil鈥, 2018 漏 Ioanna Sakellaraki
4. From 鈥楾he Interval of Unreason鈥, 2020 漏 Ioanna Sakellaraki
5. Erebus (primeval void), from 鈥楾he Truth is in the Soil鈥, 2018 漏 Ioanna Sakellaraki
6. From 鈥楾he Truth is in the Soil鈥, 2019 漏 Ioanna Sakellaraki
