Marinos Tsagkarakis: Strawberry Blue
Created within the quiet atmosphere of a captivating public park in the Netherlands, Strawberry Blue unfolds as an intimate and contemplative photographic journey. The project emerged after Marinos Tsagkarakis relocated from Greece to Northern Europe, a transition soon marked by a severe traffic accident that radically altered his life. The long physical recovery, combined with the emotional disorientation of adapting to a foreign culture, became the starting point for a profound exploration of identity, fragility, and belonging.
Over the years, Tsagkarakis repeatedly returned to the same park, slowly immersing himself in its shifting moods and surreal atmosphere. Through encounters with strangers, animals, vegetation, and the changing seasons, the landscape evolved into a psychological space where memory and emotion intertwine. His portraits often suggest a quiet mirroring of the artist himself — figures suspended between vulnerability and transformation, echoing the tensions embedded in the surrounding environment.
At times melancholic and unexpectedly tender, Strawberry Blue balances emotional contradiction: joy intertwined with sorrow, stillness interrupted by unease. Ultimately, the work reflects on endurance, adaptation, and the possibility of creating new roots in unfamiliar ground. The viewer is invited to move through this poetic terrain without certainty, embracing the unpredictability of the journey itself.
About the Author
Marinos Tsagkarakis is a visual artist and photographer living and working in the Netherlands. Born in Crete in 1984, his path toward photography followed an unconventional trajectory. Before dedicating himself fully to visual arts, he completed studies in Economics and Political Sciences, earned an MBA, and later specialized in Management Information Systems. His growing interest in artistic expression eventually led him to study Contemporary Photography and Visual Arts at the Stereosis School of Photography.
Since 2014, Tsagkarakis has been part of the collective Depression Era, a group of photographers documenting the social and urban realities shaped by Greece’s economic crisis.
His photographs have been presented internationally at festivals and exhibitions including Mois de la Photo in Paris, Jeju Biennale, Unseen Amsterdam, Athens Photo Festival, and Photo: Israel, among others across Europe and the United States.
His work has appeared in publications such as Der Spiegel, Vogue, Collector Daily, and Der Greif.
In 2017, his first monograph, Paradise Inn, was published by Void and has since sold out. His artworks are included in both private and institutional collections internationally.
