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. The project traverses photography, sound, performance, and installation to revisit the myths of submerged icons through the lens of contemporary female works.At the crossroads of documentary and fiction, it explores the myths of miraculous religious icons that supposedly crossed the Mediterranean in the 9th century to escape iconoclasm. Among them is the story of the Panagia Chozoviotissa from Amorgos, an icon that journeyed from Jericho in Palestine to Greece, arriving on the shore of an island. Today, it is preserved and venerated in a cave monastery that bears its name, becoming a symbol of identity. Taking this silent, faceless figure as its starting point, L'anabase embarks on a pilgrimage from Greece to Palestine, retracing its fragmented narrative.Along the way, the stories of distinct Mediterranean women’s figures – artists, activists, historians, photographers, musicians – gradually intersect with those of the silent icons. Their struggles transcend boundaries. Their self-portraits, drawings, embroideries, performances, writings, and dances speak of the Mediterranean. Through their narratives and ideas, they too cross the sea, to fight, reimagine, and root themselves in both their land of origin and their place of welcome. At the heart of the collective ex-voto that is L'anabase, perhaps a new female and Mediterranean iconography in the plural can be formed.