The bathers


The bathers

At the western part of Greece, at the suburbs of Messolonghi,
lies a big lagoon. Its waters have large concentration in salt and iodine and are considered to be therapeutic for rheumatic complaints, skin diseases and other sufferings.Therefore, a lot of people, mostly elderly, visit the lagoon every summer and cover their bodies with mud gathered from the bottom of the lake seeking for cure.Ignorance or indifference for traditional medicine and the need to relief from pain , the longing for eternal youth or just an excursion may be the cause for this peculiar social gathering. I was fascinated by these human figures bathing in the lagoon or staying motionless under the sun in a vast, almost lunar, timeless scenery. These human figures, sometimes lonely sometimes in small companies, create peculiar relations. Bodies covered with mud in uncanny positions like being in a primitive ceremony. Bodies wounded by time but still resisting. Bodies carried by  a lagoon which reminds Acheron river. The photographic lens reveals this surrealistic spectacle, a world unseen.