The Fumes of Mars

The book opens with black and white photographs showing the aftermath of the fire alongside with testimonies of the survivors. These are followed by Angelopoulou’s photographs taken as the disaster unfolded overlayed with her timeline of events. Collected evidence on the events follow including aerial maps, topographical information, lists of the victims with location and cause of death, weather and aircraft reports, CCTV and news coverage images, information from the State Investigator report and information on the ongoing trial. The final images of the book are of Angelopoulou’s personal artefacts after the fire such as remnants of jewellery, books and glasses. This assembled evidence is embedded with importance because after the fire, the truth of the victims and their families was questioned multiple times—in the public narrative, facts were concealed and re-produced with false arguments blaming residents and victims.
 
‘The story of Mati is not only a story of cruel indifference and buck-passing. It is also a story of individual moral courage and responsibility, made accessible by aggressive reporting. The press can demand accountability in ways that compromised and sluggish legal procedures cannot. It can rip apart the entangling net of cultural excuses and botched processes that cloud the public’s access to information.’ Michael Herzfeld from the book’s essay