Short description:

When the Cyprus flag was firstly designed in the ‘60s, it was mainly aiming to promote unification and peace between the inhabitants. The colours of the flag, white, yellow, and green as well as the symbols (the pigeon and the olive branches) were particularly chosen to depict these ideas and to exclude any references to Turkey or Greece. But far from representing the newborn state and Cypriot identity, the flag has since then been undermined and often replaced by other flags, promoting various national identities. As a result, the public space of the island on both sides is saturated from multiple flags which exhale a disordered nationalist identity, most often related to another country than Cyprus.

The work Identity Exhaustion (or there is no place left for white and yellow), examines the conflicting relationship that the inhabitants of Cyprus have with their national identity, using the symbols and the flag. It is an effort to deal with the trauma of constant separation and with the dichotomy that has been undermining the Cypriot identity since the creation of the Cyprus state.

Presented:

Crossing 24/31: I always confuse south to north, north to south
Bi-communal contemporary art exhibition on the green-line
Organized by Visual Voices.
Goethe-Institut Zypern, 24/10/2020- 31/10/2020.

This exhibition was the result of the three-month peace education residency program organized by the Visual Voices that brings together eleven Greek and Turkish Cypriot visual artists who explored the theme “Media and Nationalist Narratives“. This program was supported by the German institute Allianz Kulturstiftung.

More information:

https://visual-voices.org/Exhibition…
https://www.philenews.com/politismos…