Stefania Strouza: Under the Shadow of Erciyes

“Under the Shadow of Erciyes” explores the volcanic landscape of Cappadocia, Turkey, where Pier Paolo Pasolini filmed his 1969 film “Medea”. The project marks the final chapter of my decade-long exploration of the myth’s cultural, feminist, and environmental implications. Addressing themes of environmental violence, the research reimagines Medea as a techno-physical force – one capable not only of causing ruptures but also of fostering synergies and healing in a wounded world.

The work-in-progress that I began developing during the Onassis AiR Fellowship centers on Cappadocia’s geological history. While Pasolini depicted this landscape as Medea’s homeland in a critique of Western capitalist society, my focus has shifted to a geological perspective, anchoring my research to Erciyes, the inactive stratovolcano that has shaped Anatolia’s terrain and civilizations for millennia. Despite its looming presence, Erciyes has enabled a unique form of human habitation within the volcanic rock. The research thus examines how Cappadocia’s landscape fosters interconnections between human and nonhuman systems, offering models of adaptation in an ever-changing Earth system.

“Under the Shadow of Erciyes” brings together fieldwork experiences in Cappadocia with contemporary philosophical reflections on the chthonic, drawing on thinkers such as Giorgio Agamben, Gilles Deleuze and Félix Guattari, and Marcia Bjornerud. Having previously worked extensively with geological entities and human–non-human synergies, a central question during the Onassis AiR fellowship was whether an “underground imaginary” can offer an alternative way of approaching issues of planetary degradation.

Onassis AiR fellowship was whether an “underground imaginary” can offer an alternative way of approaching issues of planetary degradation.

Although my first encounter with Pasolini’s “Medea” was in 2013, I visited Cappadocia over a decade later, in 2024. The emotions this landscape stirred were complex: awe in the face of its sublime beauty, and anxiety brought on by the extensive touristification of the terrain.

When I arrived at Onassis AiR in February 2025, I began closely studying the photographs I had taken during fieldwork – a spontaneous record of tourist activities, ephemeral constructions, human gestures across geological masses, and fluid assemblages of people and animals. These images don’t offer a linear narrative. Instead, they are snapshots of life on the Earth’s surface as it shifts and transforms.

From the outset, I chose 3D digital simulation as the core medium for this project. In Cappadocia, 3D scanning has become essential in archaeological efforts to capture the changing underground landscape – where collapsing rocks can suddenly bring whole sections of underground cities into the sunlight. I combined this technique with my studio-based sculptural practice, creating a series of abstract clay forms. Their recesses and openings mirrored the subterranean architectures of Cappadocia. These were then scanned and transformed into digital models. The resulting video works simulate movements a body might make underground – submerging, wandering, surfacing – while also inviting the viewer into an imaginary intimacy with the Earth, as if their body itself were covered in soil.