The Seasons, 2017

Galichnik, North Macedonia
stone tiles

In a middle of August 2017, I was visiting Macedonia for the first time to reach Galichnik. A small village located on the slopes of the Bistra Mountain. Not far away From Morovo lake I took the small winding road on a Google map name Galichnik Pat. After the steep road through the deep woods, the passage seemed more endless and flat. In the Frchec area the sensation was that of something between haven and the end of the world. The view stretched towards an astonishing and broad plateau, remote highland area comprised of two colors. Passing through this stunning view I was already producing images in my mind, similar to the ones I saw at the 68th Venice Film Festival in 2011: The Season - 1972 of Artavazd Peleshyan, the Armenian director from Georgia. When I saw this experimental film for the first time I was completely taken aback by the power of images and the hardships of life in such an environment. The same impression I had when I saw the territory of Galichnik, and somehow I felt myself being struck between the film scenes and realty. Over the next six days which I spent in Galichnik villiage I tried to imagine how this place is in winter, autumn or spring. The thing is that it is impossible to imagine such a sensation, without experiencing it. I knew that I can’t stay here all year long. For this reason I decided to leave a trace or a sign instead. With this act I allowed my trace to convey the possibility of my imagined experience. Symbolically it meant that I will be connected with the trace, and consequently with the place (if it’s possibleon some psychological level- to be connected with a stone object in the middle of the slope of Galichnik village). Indeed I took the stone tiles that were used for covering the roof of the house and placed them directly on the slope behind the house in the form of an arrow. In this manner I wanted to indicate that I was there, that we were all there, in this small, inaccessible and beautiful spot in a middle of nowhere, where once per year artists from different countries gather for a short period of time implementing their creativity in the location.