No hydra

FILM/VIDEO INSTALLATION, 2017

Photo: Patrick Alan Banfield
Installation view of No Hydra

The Greek island of Hydra was once an island full of rivers and water. The film “No Hydra” shows the vegetation and landscape, the village settlement, harbour facilities and local population alongside tourists. But the real leading role is played by a mysterious man whom the film follows.

No Hydra, together with Nektarios Pappas, film and video installation, 2017

Film:
6:29 min., digital 35mm, 4K, stereo sound

Video installation:
Marshall field monitor, media player, Epipremnum aureum

Courtesy: Patrick Alan Banfield and Nektarios Pappas

The six-minute film is about masculinity in the broadest sense and the inner turmoil of a Greek man on the island of Hydra. For example, he says that if you walked up the arduous path to the mountain, you would not find a beautiful view, only darkness. He goes on to say that he is the king of the island. The film shows this man’s dream: a variety of excursion images fly by in shreds and the darkness fights against them.

The short film plays with the idea of escape, perhaps from illness and pain, perhaps from one’s own self. As picturesque and idyllic as the island appears, it is also a place of exile for dropouts, vagabonds and the lost.

Text by Omer Fast

Installation views of No Hydra
Stills of No Hydra