URBANITY 2017
Contrived in Greece, in the midst of a crisis, this “Urbanity” series was produced in a bird house in Athens. The shot is frontal and shows us caged birds. It was the vision, in the evening, of buildings located in popular Athenian neighborhoods with lighted apartments that gave Paolo Topy the idea of producing this series, which is so evocative of the situation in the country, or the image of these birds trapped behind their bars are reminiscent of the situation of the Greek population trapped in this unparalleled crisis and whose life, suddenly become difficult, has often been reduced to family intimacy. Like these birds, the Greeks found themselves at the mercy of a world outside their lives, then reduced to the primary and vital concerns of drinking and eating, between revelation of the real economic situation of the country, a plan of help, a plan of discipline, the granting of a loan, the repayment of the debt and the risk of bankruptcy. Their fate has been decided elsewhere, outside their cage, by politicians, experts, specialists and other advisers whose perception of this people has often been marred by a caricatured or even exotic tinted vision, in any case of incomprehension.
Yves Peltier