Άγιο Γάλας

003000 Nikos Yialouris, Agio Galas, Chios, 1987, Indian ink on cardboard, 40.5 × 20 cm

Agio Galas (i.e., Holy Milk) is a small village at the northwestern end of Chios. It took its name from the cave of the same name, and the miraculous (according to tradition) stalactite liquid that flows in it. At the entrance of the cave is built the Panagia Agiogalousaina, a Byzantine building of the 12th or 13th century, once a metochi (dependency) of the Nea Moni. This church is depicted in Yialouris's drawing. The picture opens on the first level with a trunk; another one can be seen on the back left. At the right end of the picture, the stone staircase leads the viewer's gaze to the upper part of the representation, towards the small Christian church with its cylindrical dome. The building seems to be assimilated by the vertical rock as the latter rises up and closes the narrow composition. It seems as if all the elements of the image are pursuing the same goal: to lift the viewer's gaze, and by extension his or her spirit, to transport him or her from the ground and through the temple, to the rock and thence to the heavens.