Staying Behind The Mountain

Georgia Aslanidou

FAMU - The Prague Academy of Performing Arts

Aslanidou Georgia, FAMU, Project ìStaying behind the mountainî.

Skiti is a village in Kozani district, Greece. Most villages of this district were inhabited from immigrants coming from turkish lands, after the massive population exchange between Greece and Turkey, during 1920s. Skiti is described from the people who live in the villages closer to the highway ìbehind the mountainî because its main body is built behind a mountain side. For this reason the villagers kept a more traditional way of living, they work with farming and agriculture and they celebrate the old customs, before immigration.

Yeoryios Diamantidis with his wife, Sophia Diamantidou live in one of highest houses of the village, just below the mountain. They have children, grandchildren and grand-grandchildren, most of which live in the same village in near by houses, and also have sheep, goats, dogs and chickens, that live in a yard next to their house. They have lost a son at the age of 23 and for this the father has a beard and the mother wears black. Still, the smile in the face and the shine in their eyes is almost unstoppable. They take care the animals like their children and they welcome every guest like a member of their family. Watching them taking care of the people and animals around them is like watching the parents of a family of 1000 members.
26.12.14, Skiti Kozani's, Greece. Hand of Yeoryios Diamantidis. Photo of one of the two spaces where Diamantidis keeps his goats and sheep. He spents 1/3 of his day around this place.