The word ‘εσω’, eso, is used in Cypriot dialect to describe the home. It comes from the ancient Greek word, which translates to being inside, being within something.
An interesting relation was found between this word and my personal associations to it, with my father working for many decades at a petrol station under a similar name: ESSO.
However, the big corporate fuel giant does not become part of this story, instead, quite contradictory, I found comfort in the logo itself, as well as the souvenirs and merchandise I have collected over the years, connecting them to my father and family, re-appropriating it to reflect my homesickness and highlight the eso-ESSO connection.
This eventuated into a multi-object, multi-disciplinary project. I became slightly obsessed with producing my own objects and merchandise, influenced by the pre-existing objects I had already collected as well as the logo itself. With all the elements produced, the final film installation used nearly none of them, focusing more on the logo; becoming a much simpler result and focused on the lonely atmosphere of what I call ‘The Eso Monster’.
‘The Eso Monster’ is an abstract figure that is the main subject of the film. It awkwardly lingers around the space and goes through phases of inflation and deflation as we see the figure being filled by a human shape and then later the suit becomes empty and lifeless. The ‘monster’ goes through these motions in a space that resembles a paradise, a beautiful green garden, however the garden itself is also deflated, time has passed and the care and use for the garden has also decayed. This all relates back to the in-between feeling of being homesick, dramatized here as a physical space the monster is trapped in, like a paradisaical purgatory.
