Digital Tags Used in Events

The practice of the collective community project—in progress—the AfroGreeks is based on the moving image as the starting point and end point of public actions that are filmed. Each member of the project participates in a filmed open-ended discussion which is unscripted. The conversation can vary beginning from introducing who they are, what they do and what their views are on topics they are interested in. These videos can be from an hour to 3 hours long depending on what the person wishes to share, and some members of the project have been filmed multiple times over the years. The work presented here is a 3-channel digital video composed from segments of these interview, carefully put together without compromising altering or influencing the perspectives and words of the protagonist.

Mc Yinka one of the most famous and influential artists in Greek rap. Tracing back who coined the term Afro-Greek, the term is found in Greek in his song to Kerma, released back in 2009.

Projection

Negros Tou Moria – or “Black Morris” – is one of the most influential Greek rappers to have emerged in recent years, he mixes trap beats with traditional Greek folk-music (rebetika) and has developed his own Greek-language genre called the trabetiko. Black Morris is the approximate translation of Negros Tou Moria, which in its original Greek is an adroit play on words with Geros tou Moria, a legendary general of the 1821 Greek revolution against the Turkish occupation – this twist on a symbol of classic “Greekness” goes a long way in describing the artist’s ethos, creativity, and cultural background both Greek and Ghanian. His newest album is called Mavri Ellada (Black Greece). Translation : Hello, this is your white friend Negros toy Moria. I would like to be with you but unfortunately, we have rehearsals and preparations to do the upcoming presentation of the Black Greece album. However, I'm waiting for you to join us, so we can show the AfroGreeks project not just only to you but to the other guests who will be here. So, they all know that I’s an experience and I would add and say it’s also a promise that there are also a Black Greece. There are also Black Greeks. I hope you're having a great time and again, I'm sorry I'm not there with you. I'll be waiting for you on the 31st of May.

The Athens City Hall is a neoclassical building in the center of Athens that houses the services of the Municipality of Athens. Connecting the dots with the statements made about citizenship and belonging in the previous materials annotated, this building is where all the bureaucratic procedures relevant to the preparation of documentation for citizenship take place. Black Greeks born in the center of Athens get their birth certificates issued in this building and they only return here when preparing their documents (editing name spelling, acquiring additional documentation missing in file system) to file for citizenship. So, having access to this building and performing on the roof top the song A Change is going to come, is a great gesture of collective hope and resistance, to signal that the legal restriction and bureaucratic barriers shaping Black life in Greece are not permanent.

Omonia Square

The Parthenon

Monastiraki Square is one of the oldest flea market neighbourhoods in the old town of Athens, making it a historically dense location. The area is filled with elements of the Roman, Byzantine, Ancient Greek and Ottoman periods and due to the train and metro, today is a very vibrant public space with a variety of restaurants, cafes, souvenir shops, multiple street vendors and street artists. Monastiraki is always crowded, and it is a place that attracts a lot of tourists.

The Monastiraki Square

The Parthenon

The Zappeion is one of the city's most renowned modern landmarks, as it was one of the first buildings constructed specifically for the revival of the Olympic Games in the late 19th century. Zappeion has a strong symbolic charge as it symbolizes Greece’s place within Europe, and it is associated with the country’s national identity, public visibility and modernity.

Zappeion

The neighbourhood of Kypseli

Athens