ISOLA
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John Perivolaris (photographs & texts) in collaboration with Electra Perivolaris & Héloïse Bernard
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Isola reflects on the idea of the island as an existential condition. The images were photographed at the opposite ends of Europe, in the Western Isles of Scotland and the islands of the Eastern Aegean, acknowledging the fact that my life is defined, respectively, by my family origins in the Greek island of Chios and the Scottish island of Arran, where I now live. In the context of my own diasporic heritage, Isola is a reflection in photographs, texts, and music on isolation and paradoxical connection.
Resonating with the etymology of the word ‘island’, the series was begun in April -May 2020, in a period of enforced isolation on Arran during the first coronavirus lockdown in the UK. The detachment afforded by living through this period lead me to begin reflecting on the experience of living between islands and on my own transnational identity as an islander, photographer, and writer. This has lead me since then to find parallels between islands at the edges of Europe to the point where, in this work, they merge to become the Island that defines my experience and imagination as a European. Consequently, as I face the island landscapes and seascapes of my autobiography at the parallel margins of Europe, I am constantly asking `where am I?’ This is the same as the existential question of `who am I?’ Hence, if Isola is about the islands marking the boundaries of a European journey it is also about a journey through an interior landscape.
Alongside the photographs I composed a series of poems to accompany the photographs that comprise Isola, a work that reflects on the island as an existential condition, in the context of European migration, and in the aftermath of the isolation imposed by the Coronavirus pandemic. The texts also provide the lyrics for the song cycle of the same title inspired by the photographs and composed by Electra Perivolaris for the soprano Héloïse Bernard. The first song of the cycle was performed at the 2022 Oxford Lieder Festival and had its international premiere in 2024 at the Yiannis Marinos Hall of the Megaron, Athens. The full song cycle is being premiered in various performances as part of Sound Festival, Aberdeen (http://www.sound-scotland.co.uk/)
Intially intended as a photographic exhibition, Isola has evolved through my collaboration with Electra Perivolaris and Héloïse BernardThe images and texts are currently available as a series of zines and an artist's book. Copies of the zines and book have been acquired by the National Library of Scotland as part of its Photography Collection.
John Perivolaris, Isle of Arran, February 2024
Resonating with the etymology of the word ‘island’, the series was begun in April -May 2020, in a period of enforced isolation on Arran during the first coronavirus lockdown in the UK. The detachment afforded by living through this period lead me to begin reflecting on the experience of living between islands and on my own transnational identity as an islander, photographer, and writer. This has lead me since then to find parallels between islands at the edges of Europe to the point where, in this work, they merge to become the Island that defines my experience and imagination as a European. Consequently, as I face the island landscapes and seascapes of my autobiography at the parallel margins of Europe, I am constantly asking `where am I?’ This is the same as the existential question of `who am I?’ Hence, if Isola is about the islands marking the boundaries of a European journey it is also about a journey through an interior landscape.
Alongside the photographs I composed a series of poems to accompany the photographs that comprise Isola, a work that reflects on the island as an existential condition, in the context of European migration, and in the aftermath of the isolation imposed by the Coronavirus pandemic. The texts also provide the lyrics for the song cycle of the same title inspired by the photographs and composed by Electra Perivolaris for the soprano Héloïse Bernard. The first song of the cycle was performed at the 2022 Oxford Lieder Festival and had its international premiere in 2024 at the Yiannis Marinos Hall of the Megaron, Athens. The full song cycle is being premiered in various performances as part of Sound Festival, Aberdeen (http://www.sound-scotland.co.uk/)
Intially intended as a photographic exhibition, Isola has evolved through my collaboration with Electra Perivolaris and Héloïse BernardThe images and texts are currently available as a series of zines and an artist's book. Copies of the zines and book have been acquired by the National Library of Scotland as part of its Photography Collection.
John Perivolaris, Isle of Arran, February 2024
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