ABSOLUTE VALUE
Between 2005-2007 I was working as freelance property evaluator on behalf of a bank. Part of the assignment was to take photos of the interior of the apartments in question. During this time I accumulated a big photographic record of interiors of houses in the centre of Athens. What impressed me most at the time, was being invited inside unknown homes, exploring private rooms, photographing intimate places. People would acknowledge my presence and that of the camera but wouldn’t make the effort to make the bed or clean the kitchen before I came.
Today, with platforms as Airbnb people themselves publish photos of their homes – although they tend to curate their interiors. People more and more come to make all other aspects of their lives public via social media. Banks, after the economic crisis that begun in 2008, started possessing the homes that were put as collateral for loans.
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In this book I use material from a random sample of visits. Personal belongings family photos, clothes, memorabilia were captured and de-contextualized in a void. The objects isolated from their surroundings exist separately from their personal and cultural references. The spaces empty of them appear free from memory and emotional charge.
'absolute value', book with photos taken from 51 houses visited in 2007