The Pariahs project mobility programme invited two literary artists, Mateja Jamnik and Fergus Conlin, representing the Slovenian team, to Eleusis in Greece from the 5th until the 9th of April.
The goal of the residency was for the Slovenian team to get in direct touch with the local culture, get a hands-on experience of the Eleusinian “pariahs”, and participate in a co-creation workshop with the local community, which was led by the Greek theatre performers Maria Kastani and Katerina Papageorgiou.
The Slovenian team visited Eleusis, Greece, to gather material and insights from the local community, which were crucial for their upcoming book publication. During this visit, the Greek team organised a voice and improvisation workshop based on specific texts, actively involving the Slovenian artists.
According to the community research, led by researcher Effie Samara, on collective memories about local marginalised people, that took place in Eleusis durign the fall of 2023, we observe the central figure of Panayiotis Farmakis who personifies resistance, marginalisation and a desire to preserve archaeological literacies and, perhaps, unwittingly, advance community cohesion and allegiance. We also observe a common thread of silent marginalisation and collective trauma, often resulting in community solidarity.
We further observe that the activities of the marginalised communities of industrial and post WWII Eleusis were rooted in relationality, coalition-building, and an acknowledgement of difference. There were strong testimonies of urban-neighbourhood experiences which resulted in the self-organisation of socio-political spaces.
During the residency Mateja and Fergus visited cultural landmarks in Eleusis such as the archaeological site, the Old Oil Mill factory, parts of which Farmakis safeguarded, the area of Vlycha which is famously known as a “ship graveyard” due to the numerous shipwrecks that are polluting the bay, and followed the steps of Panayiotis Farmakis, both in Eleusis, and at his hometown in Dervenochoria. They met with people that had directly interacted with Farmakis, including his nephew, an archaeologist that regularly interacted with him, and a local whose family provided food and shelter to Farmakis.
Attending the Eleusis co-creation workshop
The Greek artistic team organised a movement, voice and improvisation co-creation workshop for the local Eleusinian community. Led by the two performers Maria Kastani and Katerina Papageorgiou, the workshop utilised text inspired from the research sessions that took place in Eleusis in 2023, on which they built the workshop exercises.
Based on the texts, participants were split in teams, chose parts of the text that they would embody, and created a short performance piece. At the end of the activity all participants together formed a collective ‘sculpture’ by taking a certain pose and placing themselves in specific positions. The Slovenian team attended the workshop and took notes of words and phrases the community shared regarding the concept of being a ‘pariah’.
