Pilgrimage is a journey to a destination, external or internal, literal or figurative, material or spiritual. The goal of the pilgrim is to move by walking hundreds of kilometers many times, from the familiar, the trivial daily, to the Other to the ideal. The motives of the pilgrim are different for each one, remembrance of an event, the fulfillment of a vow, a specific purpose/goal, awakening – awareness of groups, and even simple curiosity. All major pilgrimages and pilgrims have more or less the same characteristics regardless of the walking effort required for their fulfillment, the will of the pilgrims, or their origin and cultural level. The pilgrimage to the Holy Land or to Mecca or the Camino to the Santiago de Compostella or to Shikoku or to the Tengoboche but also smaller pilgrimages always have the same great value for the pilgrim because consciously or unconsciously they lead him to some kind of transcendence.
The cedars of the area of Agios Georgios are a rare species of cedars in the world and are located on a slope above the village of Psarades Prespa and within the boundaries of the homonymous habitat. In 2012, as part of “Visual March to Prespa 2012” I discovered a makeshift sacred altar with Οrthodox images carefully placed at the root of a huge fallen cedar, worn by time, almost assimilated by the landscape. The following year this improvised altar had disappeared. It has become the place for a mnemonic walking pilgrimage.
Participants will be transformed into “pilgrims” who will perform artworks or interact with the environment and other people. They will conduct their pilgrimage towards the mnemonic pilgrimage of the Agios Georgios area. They will start from different locations of Prespa having as their destination the cedar forest of Agios Georgios. The walking pilgrimage will take place on Thursday, July 8. In the walking process, the estimated time of implementation is about 2 hours and the desired time of implementation is in the morning 07:00 am– 9:00 am. The number of participants are 5 – 10 people. The route will start from the location Psarades Prespa and will end at the slope with the cedars in the Church of Agios Georgios in Psarades Prespa.