In a tavern on Antiparos island, Iakovos Ragoussis, a veritable people’s artist, was a mind-blowing revelation for us. With an idiosyncratic identifying writing style and a very mature philosophy of life, he spoke to us about his art and his thoughts on living on the island.
In studying the Cycladic architecture of the past, we discover at least two fundamental truths.
In antiquity, the marble of Paros was a blessing for the island, affording it fame and wealth. The ancient quarries of ‘Paria Lithos’ (Parian Stone) were the main reason Western European travellers began visiting the island, from the 18th century onwards.
Drystone walling is the art of the minimal. The art of necessity. It is the first form of recycling. A field is enclosed using nothing but its own materials. It is the art of congeniality, peacefully separating two fields, while often revealing the harmonious effort of two or more pairs of hands working together.
Archaeologist Yannos Kourayos has been mainly associated with the excavation at Despotiko, the small island to the west of Antiparos, which came to prominence even before it officially opens its gates to the public. Indeed, this excavation, which began 28 years ago, and advanced despite numerous adversities, was destined to become his life’s work.
Nikos Malatestas is a low-key, serious and methodical person, with a deep love for Paros, committed to collective action and backed by a technological professional background.
Konstantina Andreakou has intertwined her life with the music and choirs of Paros. On the occasion of this year’s award won by the Archilochos Choir in an international competition in Romania, she takes us on a melodic journey.
The interview of Maroulia Kontou took place the day after the 1st Choir Meeting held by the Mythodia Conservatory. She was exhausted but exhilarated; she had managed to realize yet another plan, yet another dream of hers. Two highly competent mixed choirs had travelled all the way from Athens to meet the audience of Paros and, along with the choir of Mythodia, offer them a sensational musical evening.
6,885 nautical miles! That’s the distance that lies between San Francisco and Paros. That venture also comprised other, shorter journeys, but it mainly entailed a long inward journey for Dimitra Skandali which, thankfully, keeps on going...
Susan Daboll was a familiar face and name even before we actually met. I had noticed her tall juvenile figure pass through the Holland Tunnel Gallery, the old Azari house and I had seen her photos in an exhibition at the same space. The interview with Susan Daboll opened for me a window to two worlds: the world of the artist and the world of the wife of the late Takis Dimitrakopoulos who passed in 2020 and their home, the iconic mansion of this historic family, right in the heart of the town of Parikia.
