Photography for me is to oppose to the Infinite Other, free from prerequisites or prior acceptance and beyond classified stereotypes. These stereotypes have taken their toll on my own life and paved the way for me to get to know these people. Among the “Roma” of Agia Anna, Jimmy, their dominant leader, introduced me to the lives of these people. The Roma or “Gypsies” narrate themselves in a place and time set OUTSIDE.

These people shared their table, their music and ultimately their feelings with me, at first a stranger and later on a “balamo”. Living on the margins of society, they derive life from the waste of the mega-city, turning it into self-made stories. Just like us, the “normal” people, they fall in love, they laugh and strive, living in the grip of an impeccable social discipline.

Despite their suspicion of strangers, they shared with me their greatest fear: a sound! The sound of the bulldozer that was bound to demolish their shacks along with their lives… The first image I came across upon entering the settlement was the chief’s dog crying over the demolished door.

Photography has the power to take me to magical places where I would have otherwise never dared to go, to reconcile me to my innermost self and, ultimately, to offer a momentary glimpse of immortality.