Insomnia: Off Season was photographed on Zakynthos in September 2020, when the island’s tourist infrastructure remained visible but had largely lost its function. In Laganas, restaurants, clubs, swimming pools and terraces appeared as sets awaiting actors who did not return. Daylight, usually associated with leisure and escape, exposed the provisional nature and exhaustion of a landscape designed for continuous consumption.
I photographed these spaces as evidence of a temporary disappearance. Shuttered façades, abandoned furniture, barriers and illuminated signs retained the promise of pleasure, but could no longer fulfil it. The off-season became more than a pause in tourism: it revealed how quickly a destination can lose its assigned identity and turn into an unfamiliar, almost post-human territory.
Selected works are available as limited-edition archival pigment prints (edition of 5 + 1 AP). For enquiries: info@tomekalbin.com