Around the Line / Lefteris Paraskevaidis

Around the Line by Lefteris Paraskevaidis
Selfpublished

Structural works, whether complete or not, arbitrary interventions, and makeshift constructions of indeterminate use, constitute an environment characterized by two main features. On the one hand, the constant transformation of the landscape, either due to human interventions or simply as nature decides, and on the other hand, the randomness with which these things occur. Abandoned restaurants, ruined nightclubs and small gas stations bear witness to the domestic changes that have occurred, and continue to do, on a social and cultural level. Service stations for motorists that exist along the national highway at designated points now play the role of a city mall, replacing the much smaller and scattered stores along the road that used to serve passing drivers, while the abandonment of provincial, large nightclubs reveals both a change in the way of entertainment and the tourist desertification that has taken place in a large part of the province.
The new form taken by the highway with the completion of infrastructure works did not limited the distance of the route. It made it safer, more comfortable, and faster, but perhaps also dull and boring, as safety implies less “life” on the road. A standardized route, whether in terms of the landscape or the overall provided experience, which gradually became unfriendly to the attempt of a road trip, shifting the focus solely on the destination and not the journey itself, merely assisting the drivers in moving from one area to another. For that reason, random stops on the road have been, for the most part, replaced by corresponding planned ones. Exploring the areas around the highway has become more complicated and time-consuming as a process, with the journey sometimes lasting up to twelve hours, as long as there was natural light. The use of Google Maps became a necessary aid for smoother navigation, and many times I had to spend hours in front of the computer in street view mode to prepare for a trip, calculating the route and the time it would take each time.
The images were created within the context of my planned or unplanned trips to and from Thessaloniki in the last ten years. They were taken on the national highway connecting Athens and Thessaloniki, as well as on the surrounding regional roads and in the nearby settlements and villages.

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