Alexandre Stamatiou is a photojournalist from Athens, Greece. Mr. Stamatiou has an impressive portfolio of documentary photographs and videos chronicling the political issues of recent decades in the Balkans: documenting the post-war situations that accompanied the decline of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia; the name question in North Macedonia; Greeks in Albania; coverage of conflicts between Kosovo Albanian KLA paramilitary troops and authorities in North Macedonia; coverage of the NATO bombings of Kosovo and Serbia and many others. While recording moments of history, he was arrested and injured. His photos have been published in many leading magazines and media such as: To Vima, Ta Nea, Eleftherotypia, Epsilon, Kathimerini, Eleftheros Typos, Naftemporiki, Time, Elsevier, Het Parole, Newsweek, Xinhua, New York Times, Frankfurter Allgemeine. Zeitung etc. Since 2006, he has worked for the Greek television documentary program “BALKAN EXPRESS”, broadcast on Greek national television ERT3, which depicts the traditions, music, history and culture of all Balkan countries. Since 2000, he has settled in Skopje while continuing to travel for his work.
Witnessing and documenting many scenes from our recent Balkan history and hearing many stories related to culture, geography, degradation, wars and conflicts, he will attempt to shed light on the theme of “shared heritage or disputed.”
We have a heritage that can elicit different – sometimes difficult or competing – points of view and emotions depending on the approach and point of view. The challenge of dealing with such discrepancies lies in trying to simultaneously convey different views and voices when presenting this heritage to the public. Do you agree and do you think this is an essential task when dealing with heritage and stories that speak to different people in different ways?
Alexandros: I know the history of our region well, even if my professional experience is in photo reporting. In my opinion, we are witnessing in recent decades a very serious situation in which everyone wants to seize part of the other’s history. Instead of building closer cooperation and nurturing coexistence, history is used as the most dangerous weapon to drive wider differences in the Balkans. The stories disclosed are not accurate and consolidated according to the facts, but rather tailor-made, one story is served to the Bulgarians, another to the Greeks, a third to the Macedonians. This is shameful and should stop. We need to rebuild the broken bridges between countries and my opinion is that culture and art are the best conductors to strengthen the ties between our neighboring countries. I currently live in Skopje, North Macedonia, I am married to a Macedonian woman and I am working hard to bring many Greek artists here, to work closely with Macedonians, to help overcome prejudices and political imbalances , because this daily political game with our people is disgusting.
What does heritage mean to you as an individual and a citizen of your country and the world?
Alexandros: Cultural heritage is a universal value. I look at everyone’s heritage in the same way, regardless of origin, country, nation. Everything is ours; it belongs to all of humanity. One day I had an exhibition at the Museum of Photography in Thessaloniki and an American visitor asked me where my photos were taken. I replied that they came from different parts of the world. He said I should sort the photos according to state, nation and geographical territory for better understanding. I overlooked the criticism coming from him, because to me, everyone in this world is the same, no matter where they come from or what their origin is. I feel the same whether I’m in Greece, North Macedonia, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Serbia, Bosnia, wherever I have very close friends, I feel the same.
How we choose to remember the past and how we choose to move forward are the crucial questions of today. What does cultural heritage mean in different national and regional contexts? Who can claim it as their own and who decides how it is preserved, displayed or restored? How to share cultural heritage?
Alexandros: Politicians use history, culture and cultural heritage for their daily political needs. Before, there were no borders, we were all the same. My father is from Kallikrateia, Chalkidiki, so according to parts of the story I am Macedonian. In the past, my father’s parents came from Izmir, Turkey, so there were no clear boundaries back then. After that, the borders were drawn and everyone went crazy, grabbing and trying to appropriate the past, the history, the heritage. I will emphasize my opinion that only culture will allow us to move forward. When I saw how well Greek and Macedonian artists got along (during a residency I organized), it was a great pleasure. Only with the power of artists and culture can we bare our teeth to politicians and celebrate humanity. After the Prespa Agreement was signed, I experienced a very interesting situation in which many of my Greek friends called me and told me that they did not agree that the former Republic Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia be renamed North Macedonia, but that it should be. simply named Macedonia. This means that there is still hope that broken bridges can be reconnected.
Are you engaging in cross-border cooperation with professionals from North Macedonia and are you experiencing difficulties in its implementation?
Alexandros: Yes, I have a great collaboration with Macedonian colleagues and I have never had a bad experience so far. Here I feel at home. I lived in the center of Athens, here I live in the center of Skopje and I feel like a “Skopjanin”. If something bad happens in or around the city, it hurts me because I feel like it’s my hometown.
“I look at everyone’s heritage in the same way, regardless of origin, country, nation. It belongs to humanity.”
Do you think that being more polyvocal, engaging, diverse, (self)reflexive and participatory can resolve some of the obstacles on how to present cultural heritage (shared or contested)?
Alexandros: Yes! I have taken many photos and recorded documentaries for museums in the Balkans, Croatia, Serbia, North Macedonia, Albania, but at the National Gallery in Sofia, Bulgaria I experienced one most impressive experiences. We met and spoke with their director, and I saw a great positive reaction in his communication, he was a believer in the idea that we are all the same, mostly humans of the world. He didn’t care if I spoke Macedonian or Greek, his main interest was to see what we could show to the audience. So we organized a big exhibition in their gallery.
Certainly, we live in an era of lies, served by politicians, but art and artists change and can change the direction of the wind and the atmosphere. I’m a photojournalist and I’ve been involved in politics for 35 years, but now I’m tired of politics.
Can you think of an example of a case study of shared or contested heritage related to your particular area of interest (ethno-music, history, archaeology, contemporary art, art history, photography, etc.) and how would you approach his presentation?
Alexandros: Photography is an artifact, so it helps a lot in confirming cultural heritage or issues related to shared or contested history. I am very often fascinated by human eyes, by the way they interpret images, especially when it comes to children’s eyes. Once, I photographed a refugee child from Kosovo, I photographed his emotional eyes. 15 years later, during an exhibition in Skopje, a young man in his twenties approached me and asked me if I recognized him. I responded negatively. Then he introduced himself as the refugee child in the photo and said that I was an inspiration to him and that he was going to become a photographer. He learned to speak French, English, Macedonian and Albanian. So this is a happy story. There are many such examples, both good and bad. So, with the help of photo or video documentation, there are facts that cannot be overlooked.
“What national narratives mean is that they don’t include layers; they are one-sided, often chronological, and have a sense of a fixed, static, historical truth about them,” Anderson said in 1991. Do you agree with this quote and why?
Alexandros: I agree, a multi-layered approach is one of the keys to resolving issues surrounding shared or contested heritage and history. Changes in history are influenced by politicians, so the best way to approach problems is to talk to local people in small communities. I have recorded and interviewed many villagers and elderly people from small communities in many neighboring Balkan countries. The most interesting thing is that they all share the same history, which is different from the changed and transformed one, proposed by the States through the educational institutions, within the framework of political agendas.
Another method of challenging the national narrative, regarding shared or contested heritage, would be to move from the particular to the universal. Cornelius Holtorf writes: “(…) the new cultural heritage can transcend cultural particularism by promoting values and virtues derived from humanism and a commitment to global solidarity. ” What do you think of that?
Alexandros: I completely agree with Cornelius Holtorf. We must overcome the bad experiences of our fathers and grandfathers, let bygones be bygones (there are historians who can sit down, without emotion, and discuss the specific and problematic moments arising from the use of different facts) and we will continue, with the help of culture, to be active creators of the new era of humanism and global solidarity.. I am not saying that we should forget our past and neglect our history, but that this should not be an obstacle to being good neighbors and collaborators, a trap into which we fall again and again in the name of everyday life. policy.
When we discuss shared or contested heritage, the question of time is essential, and in extreme cases of recent unrest, the best method of reconciliation may not be to approach the past as an individual subject; but rather that the past should hopefully stay in the past. Do you think this can be implemented in our context?
Alexandros: Yes, as I said before, the past must remain in the past, without influencing our contemporary life, and only with the help of culture can we reconcile, strengthen and consolidate relationships and communications.
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The interview is carried out within the framework of the “Shared or Contested Heritage” project, implemented by ALDA Skopje and Forum ZFD. The aim of the project is to improve cross-border cooperation between North Macedonia, Greece and Bulgaria. The project raises awareness among heritage practitioners and cultural workers of the role of contested histories and shared cultural heritage in European integration processes. The content of the interview is the sole responsibility of the interviewee and does not always reflect the views and attitudes of ALDA and the ZFD Forum.
