North Epirus - Abandoned Land
22 images Created 28 Mar 2012
North Epirus, an abandoned land.
As a child I stared across the barbed wire of the Greek-Albanian border and wondered about the secret country of Albania. Twenty years later I went back and crossed the border with my camera to explore this mystery of my boyhood. I originate from the Greek part of Epirus, making me feel closer to the people of that area. It’s a shock realising that if I had been born just 20 miles further north my life would not have been the same.
Albania was at the time the poorest country in Europe, with a long history of wars and radical social changes. Since the end of WWII Albania was governed by an autocratic, Stalinist Communist party and from the 1970’s onwards was isolated from the rest of the world. This changed in 1990 when communism collapsed and a massive wave of Albanians migrated to other countries like Italy and Greece.
This set of pictures taken in North Epirus in Southern Albania deals with the issue of migration in the aftermath of 45 years of oppression.
The area of Epirus, located in the south west of the Balkan Peninsula, is divided between Greece and Albania and mainly populated by Greeks. After the opening of the borders, about two thirds of the population of the area migrated to Greece. They left Albania because of economic and political instability, the collapse of the infrastructure and the suppression of human rights.
Nowadays villages that once had populations of around 2000, hardly have 100 people.
The place became deserted.
As a child I stared across the barbed wire of the Greek-Albanian border and wondered about the secret country of Albania. Twenty years later I went back and crossed the border with my camera to explore this mystery of my boyhood. I originate from the Greek part of Epirus, making me feel closer to the people of that area. It’s a shock realising that if I had been born just 20 miles further north my life would not have been the same.
Albania was at the time the poorest country in Europe, with a long history of wars and radical social changes. Since the end of WWII Albania was governed by an autocratic, Stalinist Communist party and from the 1970’s onwards was isolated from the rest of the world. This changed in 1990 when communism collapsed and a massive wave of Albanians migrated to other countries like Italy and Greece.
This set of pictures taken in North Epirus in Southern Albania deals with the issue of migration in the aftermath of 45 years of oppression.
The area of Epirus, located in the south west of the Balkan Peninsula, is divided between Greece and Albania and mainly populated by Greeks. After the opening of the borders, about two thirds of the population of the area migrated to Greece. They left Albania because of economic and political instability, the collapse of the infrastructure and the suppression of human rights.
Nowadays villages that once had populations of around 2000, hardly have 100 people.
The place became deserted.
