Zakynthos; Eternity Lasts Sixty Years

Zakynthos; Eternity Lasts Sixty Years

Zakynthos; Eternity Lasts Sixty Years

Mark Boog

A poet and a photographer ‘describe’ the island Zakynthos, where the ancient Greek gods live.

Allow me to introduce myself. I am Zakynthos. I am Zante. I am an island, and I wanted to talk to you about the loneliness of being an island. Yeah, laugh if you must. This is my story, I can do what I want.

The Greek island of Zakynthos is situated a few kilometers off the west coast of Peloponnesos. It is the southernmost island of the Ionic archipelago, where the European and African tectonic plates meet. The earth trembles regularly, often with devastating effects. The last major earth quake was in August 1953, when nearly all the houses on the island were destroyed and more than a hundred people lost their lives.

Every summer a group of Dutch students walk on Zakynthos, in between dogs, goats, chickens and lost wells through the fields looking for shards, flint stones and a temple. The landscape with its ancient ruins is often indescribably beautiful.

Mark Boog lets the island tell its precarious history through enchanting texts while Eddo Hartmann has captured the magic of Zakynthos with his camera. The result is a lasting monument of a changing landscape.