2015 Anafi Athens

On this visit to Greece, we went almost immediately to Anafi, because there had been problems with ferries and we did not want to be stranded there later. We were able to meet Philia Hayes again, and to tour parts of the island in her company. In July, the first 'Phenomenon' event had taken place on the island, the initiative of Piergiorgio Pepe and Iordanis Kerenidis. They organised a fortnight in early July, during which conceptual artists prepared and then presented their works. One of these, which made a great impression on me, was a drawing of a 'constellation' of stars on the side of a house near the former Primary School. The 'stars' were actually letters, joined to spell out words. Later on, villagers had begun to join these letters themselves to spell out the names of (possibly hoped-for) loved ones or other words. I called it 'the Phenomenon Wall'. (In a later 'Phenomenon', the wall was used again, so these photos are a record of what used to be there.

A paper reflecting on remembrance, memory and ritual obligations, bringing up to date earlier papers like 'Houses Fields and Graves' was published in 2015, 'Rituals of forgiveness and structures of remembrance: memorial services and bone depositories...' in History of Religions 54, 3, pp 225-259 and can be downloaded here.

Back in Athens, the 'final meeting' about the publication of the Imellos Anafi Notebook took place and it was indeed published the next year (2015).