The statement from the Greek photographer accompanying his investigation into the borders of his country leaves little room for misunderstanding: "Borders from their birth bear the ephemeral. Thus, the project seeks to present borders as a contemporary monument, a monument to their inherent failure to separate the Us from the Other."
Setting aside the observation of natural phenomena that highlight the precariousness of impermeable politics, it suffices to browse through a history book; merely studying its maps reveals the fluidity of the borders established by powers, empires, and nations over time. There is an underlying instability in human societies that has historically undermined the durability of borders. This is an undeniable fact. From this, we can easily deduce, in agreement with the author, that today’s borders will certainly not be the same as tomorrow’s, just as they are not the same as yesterday’s. This is especially true for Greece. The borders no longer correspond to the campaigns of the conqueror Alexander the Great, nor to the glorious Hellenic period that left traces from Egypt to India. Borders ebb and flow everywhere, yet they impact the present, representing a mental infrastructure and an effective political device for controlling human beings. The borders of the nations in question serve a dual purpose: to contain within, but also to defend against external pressures.
While it is clear to all, as the photographer Grigoris Dicas reminds us, that crossing a border is not easy—especially where it separates empires or "civilizations of thought"—it is less evident that it is equally difficult to break free from the regime of ownership and belonging that the border establishes: nationality, citizenship, identity cards, homeland, and so on. If one wishes to delve deeper into the individual, it becomes very complex to shed the ties, beliefs, languages, meanings, and flavors of that common denominator whose horizon is defined by borders. However, identity ties are equally unstable and change based on socio-economic and territorial conditions and challenges, provoking "escape routes" or forms of "personal defense." In a way, borders come with a burden, leading us back to the etymology of the word itself.
The Proto-Indo-European (PIE) root *bher- is a fascinating linguistic term that encompasses meanings related to strength and carrying. This root is associated with various derivatives in different Indo-European languages, often suggesting concepts of support, strength, and the act of bearing or carrying. The connection to boundaries comes from the notion of marking limits or edges—areas that are "carried" or upheld by a certain definition. When we think about borders, they serve as the boundaries that separate and define different territories, much like the edges or limits one carries in a physical sense.
In relation to Ancient Greece, today's global challenge fiercely strikes at daily living; it is part of a common imaginary (including technological), influencing what we eat, wear, listen to, and believe. Thus, this interconnection of humans made possible by the information revolution—which is the first de-territorialized revolution, or in other terms "borderless"—is irreversible and weighs on the consciousness of individuals like a psychic pandemic. Individuals find themselves playing a game in a planetary arena, yet regulated by codes designed for a different type of society. This generates a disassociation between the real and reality. Either a reconciliation between the two necessary dimensions of living will occur, or institutional neuroses will arise, leading to further conflicts. This is what is happening again in Europe after a period of relative stability. But we have learned that there is little stable in human affairs and in the flows of collective consciousness.
Returning to Dicas's photographs, they certainly manifest the geopolitical tensions of the present and a state of global instability, in a system out of balance, where particles moving in search of stability collide with fences, barbed wire, tear gas, borders, documents, surveillance apparatus, technologies, and other tools regulating the free movement of human bodies. At the same time, these photographs speak of a crisis with deep roots, concerning the human being and his difficult coexistence with the Other, as well as increasingly with himself. This crisis drives him to seek answers beyond the borders of creation, nature, and life here and now—answers translatable into beliefs. Ancestral nomadism leads us to build cages around our fears, to erect mental barriers, and to cherish them despite their uncertainty, even though what we have desired since the dawn of time is for that soul to one day free itself from chains to embrace the eternal, the infinite. Perhaps the utopia here is a society finally endowed with laws without borders.
