«Στα Τρία, Athina» Women's Ritual Dancing in the Heart of Post-Crisis Greece

‘Having never been in Greece before I get lost easily. There is no apparent logic to the way the streets are laid out, the winding pathways of the city centre giving way to grids that are not parallel in relation to one another. I guide myself around mostly by phone, and when reception is bad, by searching for glimpses of the Parthenon, the ancient temple to Athena Parthenos, the goddess in her aspect of the virgin.

Gazing up at the slopes of the Acropolis is a relief; the streets are slightly claustrophobic. They are populated by old men drinking coffee, but also play out signs of the crisis in explicit, unmissable ways. Walking up Keramikou on the way to the market, I come across something I’ve never seen before, even living on the edge of Melbourne’s heroin corridor: a group of users cheerfully shooting up in the hot morning sun. They are basking in the light like a kindle of Athenian cats. One man is gesticulating with a fit that holds a bright jewel of blood, and I realise that my hands are opening and closing, involuntarily.’

Read ‘Sta Tria, Athina’ at Neos Kosmos.