Visions of Paxos
Vivian van Blerk, Souvenir of Paxos
2013, color photographs, collaged image, hand colored on the negative
Paxos | Struck from Corfu by Poseidon
According to Greek mythology, Poseidon created Paxos by striking Corfu with his trident — cleaving off a piece of its southern coast to forge a private sanctuary for himself and his beloved Amphitrite. It is a fitting origin for a place that has always felt set apart from the world — small, unhurried, and luminous.
Named by the Phoenicians, claimed by Rome in its first great naval battle in Aegean waters, then ruled by Venice for four centuries — long enough to plant more than 250,000 olive trees that still define the landscape today — Paxos has borne witness to many of history's greatest civilizations.
Today, Paxos remains one of the most intimate and unspoiled corners of the Aegean — a place where the pace of life still follows the rhythm of the sea and the season. It is this quality — timeless, unhurried, alive with beauty — that has drawn artists and writers here for generations. In 2012, gallerist Chris Boicos founded Boicos Fine Arts in the heart of Gaios, bringing collectors and artists into conversation with a landscape that has inspired human imagination since antiquity.