L'anabase

L'anabase, from the Greek "ἀνάβασις," meaning ascent – from the sea to the land, from the land to the mountain, from the mountain to the sky. L'anabase is a river-like tale blending photography, film, sound, and publishing to tell the myth of the submerged Marian icons.

These miraculous icons are said to have crossed the Mediterranean to escape the iconoclasts in the 8th century. Their mysterious arrival on the Greek shores led to a series of oral transmission rites, as well as the construction of monasteries meant to serve as their refuge and places of worship. Emitting a bright light and capable of moving on their own across vast distances, these silent icons with eroded faces continue to serve as vehicles of identity, memory, and reflection. L'anabase traces their journey through a radio broadcast, a series of photographs, and a book where historical narratives and personal mythologies intertwine. Among these stories is that of the Panagia Chozoviotissa, said to have traveled from Jericho in Palestine to Amorgos in Greece to escape persecution. The project catalogs these silent icons and weaves connections with the voices of Mediterranean women—artists, activists, musicians—whose paths resonate with these sacred figures. The project unfolds as it travels between Greece and Palestine, creating a poetic link between the two territories, and is intended to become an artist's book situated at the crossroads of fiction and documentary.

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