The River Beneath the RiverMina Arhontaki
Mina’s genuine interest in nature, earth's products and land ethics, deeply informs her artistic research and practice. During her stay on Samothrace, she recorded a day-to-day drawing diary, exploring the island and mingling with locals. Mina also captured through cyanotypes the botanical wealth of the island. She shared this technique with the local children in a workshop at Lakkoma.
Samothrace features an impressive and diverse flora, due to its rich water resources and heterogeneity of the landscape. Yet this ecosystem is now in danger, with several decades of overgrazing by sheep and goats and abrupt changes in land use contributing to degradation. She also approached this sustainability challenge during her stay in the island, by meeting with key locals. Mrs Pavlina generously shared her experiential knowledge of the local herbs and wild flowers, which comes from a genuine connection with the land and the local ecosystem, and passes from generation to generation.
