As we are selecting points from the dialogues Alexander Schellow had, we find some interesting coincidences in the story of the woman named Galateia who lives by the Kifissos River. One of them refers to the myth surrounding her name. Galateia is said to be a daughter of Nireas and Doris, deities of the calm sea. Furthermore, it is said that she married Pygmalion, King of Cyprus. Besides these facts, our interest was also awakened by her reference to her baptism and her godfather saying, «We will call her Galateia. She will be an artist.» We do not know if our Galateia became an artist herself in her real life, but she is one of the protagonists in the story Alexander is telling us through his work for Project Nero.
Another interesting point of her story is her year of birth, 1926, a date associated with the mid-war period and the A’ Democracy of Greece. In 1927, when Galateia was baptized, the newly established Greek state was founded with the final voting of the new Constitution.
The “reorganization,” “re-establishment” and “creation” of democracy reminds us of a characteristic phrase that Galateia said during her dialogue with Alexander. A phrase that describes a stereotype and also an undermined and bitter truth of the status quo of creativity and corruption in the country, perhaps by simply interpreting her words:
Ι have to be PASOK, dear sirs, or Nea Demokratia, in order to be a creative person. I am asking what am I? I am Greek and I am democratic. I have read about socialism, sirs, but I don’t know. Platon only and Thoukydidis who were by nature wise, knew about Socialism. We, sirs, are papatrechas…(“following after”)
The article series De-constructing the Kifissos was produced with and published by Meld.cc
Announcement of the new constitution in the Government Gazette
