Tyche | Konstantinos Tzavelas
Just like in my previous work (Polis, 2020-2021), the inspiration for the idea of this series of images again came from the poetry of C.P. Cavafy (1863-1933). I am wondering whether the freedom that I took for granted up until 2019, no longer exists. In the photographs I am presenting, I want to show the walls-boundaries which have been imposed on me, but mostly what exists within these walls and perhaps what these may symbolically represent.
The connection between Cavafy’s Walls and the goddess Tyche is made because the goddess of luck and fortune from the Greek mythology is reflected as a woman, as the personification of prosperity, of abundance, and of the city’s wealth. During the Hellenistic period, she was depicted with a crown on her head which was adorned with the city walls. It is also known that the poet was an admirer of the Hellenistic period, during which Tyche was the patron goddess of almost every city.
Walls (C.P. Cavafy, 1897):
In this unique poem by Cavafy, we see the strong distress that he feels about the limitations imposed on him, without him realizing them; he feels that he has been trapped inside the city walls.
Without consideration, without pity, without shame
they have built great and high walls around me.
And now I sit here and despair.
I think of nothing else: this fate gnaws at my mind;
for I had many things to do outside.
Ah why did I not pay attention when they were building the walls.
But I never heard any noise or sound of builders.
Imperceptibly they shut me from the outside world.
they have built great and high walls around me.
And now I sit here and despair.
I think of nothing else: this fate gnaws at my mind;
for I had many things to do outside.
Ah why did I not pay attention when they were building the walls.
But I never heard any noise or sound of builders.
Imperceptibly they shut me from the outside world.