L I A L A P I T H I S H U K U R O G L O U



http://www.lialapithi.com/

http://dshu.co.uk/files/offline/web/liaportfolio/

see http://www.global-art.org/about/projectdescription.html

TATİANA FERAHİAN

ZEHRA ŞONYA

Contemporary Art from North and South Cyprus
The Little Black Fish

June 19-July 19, 2010

CURATORS
ZEYNEP YASA YAMAN, Associate Professor, Faculty of Letters, Art History Dept., Haccettepe University, Ankara
DR. ANTONIS DANOS, Lecturer in Art History and Theory, Dept. of Multimedia and Graphic Arts, Cyprus University of Technology, Limassol

ORGANIZERS
EMAA, European-Mediterrenean Art Association
EKATE, Cyprus Chamber of Fine Arts

ARTISTS
SERHAT SELIŞIK- DOĞUŞ BOZKURT, MUSTAFA ERKAN, ZEHRA ŞONYA, ÖZGÜL EZGİN, GRUP 102, KLİTSA ANTONİOU, VİCKY PERİCLEOUS, TATİANA FERAHİAN, KATARİNA ATTALİDOU, MELİTA COUTA, YİANNOS ECOKOMOU, ADİ ATASSİ, ANDREAS SAVVA, YİOULA XATZİGEORGİOU, NİKOS KOUROUSSİS, LİA LAPİTHİ

Organized by European-Mediterian Art Association and Cyprus Chamber of Fine Arts, supported by Istanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture Agency, The Little Land Fish exhibition presents artists from North and South Cyprus. This exhibition is conceived and funded within the scope of “Portable Art” project. Seventeen artists from the island will be hosted in İstanbul with the cooperation of Cypriote non-governmental organizations. The exhibition is open to visit between June19 –July 19 2010.

“My dear child, are you crazy? World!... What is this other world! The world is right here where we are. Life is just as we have it… Samad Behrengi, The Little Black Fish.

Penned by Samad Behrangi, The Little Black Fish is the story of an old fish telling his 12,000 children and grandchildren a tale themed around justice, equality, questioning dogma, and swimming against the tide. The tale concerns the efforts of the little black fish in his troublesome voyage to the sea and eventual freedom. Swimming against the tide, breaching the oppressive barriers, going beyond our limits, leading the society and shedding light on the unimaginable horizons, are the major themes of the book.

The Little Land Fish art exhibition project, inspired by the book, is centred on multi-perspective interpretations and discussions of several concepts and problems, thereby fostering new artistic creativity. Our time is marked by a tension between the historical and the contemporary, which could be relieved by adopting an intermediary position that makes the past subservient to the present. This position, alongside new perspectives, is grounded in the creative domain of art. The relations, the oscillation, the strata between the past and the present, the historical/geographical/cultural fractures, and the connections and disconnections, call for a politicisation of art, and a re-reading and re-interpretation of the role of political power.

The history of civilisation is marked by a tension between various ethnic groups and communities, islanders and continentals, the settled and the nomad. The cultural phenomena of a world that is getting smaller have precipitated discussions around “local culture” and “global culture,” and around individual and collective “cultural identity.” In this framework, little individual stories are often important in revealing and materialising these notions. The exhibition aims at offering artists living in Cyprus, a discursive platform for interpreting and expressing via art, the relation, the dialogue and the tension between the island of Cyprus (a “Little Land Fish”) and the continent (be it Turkey, Greece, Europe, etc.). It also aims – using as starting point the story of the Little Black Fish and its adventures to reach the great seas – at discussing the theoretical transformations of a common identity, of reciprocal becoming, of borders and of transformations.


Opening Programme:
Date : June 19, 2010
Hour : 19.00
Exhibiton Panel : June 20, 2010, 16.00-18.00
Information: Saliha Kasap

SANAT LİMANI
Meclis-i Mebusan Caddesi, Liman İşletmeleri Sahası
Antrepo No:5, Tophane
Tel: 0212 243 90 74 / 0212 516 07 12-13
Contact: sanatlimani@istanbul2010.org


http://www.en.istanbul2010.org/HABER/GP_709122

the little land fish

Contemporary art from Turkish and Greek Cyprus

ISTANBUL-Hürriyet Daily News
Monday, July 5, 2010
Istanbul is hosting an exhibition titled “The Little Land Fish,” which is being organized by the European-Mediterranean Art Association and the Cyprus Chamber of Fine Arts. The exhibition will present work from artists from both Turkish and Greek Cyprus, hosting a total of 17 artists from the island with the cooperation of Cypriot nongovernmental organizations.

Penned by Samad Behrangi, “The Little Black Fish” is the story of an old fish telling his 12,000 children and grandchildren a tale of justice and equality, questioning dogma and swimming against the tide. The story focuses on the efforts of the little black fish in his troublesome voyage to the sea and eventual freedom.



This art project, inspired by the book, is centered on multi-perspective interpretations and discussions of several concepts and problems, fostering new artistic creativity. It also aims to investigate the meaning of peace and friendship.

The exhibition offers the Cypriot artists a platform for interpreting and expressing the relation, the dialogue and the tension between the island of Cyprus and continental Europe via art.

It also aims to develop a discussion of the theoretical transformations of a common identity, of a reciprocal becoming, of borders and of transformations.

© 2009 Hurriyet Daily News
URL: www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=contemporary-art-from-turkish-and-greek-cyprus-2010-06-24

“THE LITTLE LAND FISH” ART EXHIBITION
Nicosia

Penned by Samad Behrangi, The Little Black Fish is the story of an old fish telling his 12,000 children and grandchildren a tale themed around justice, equality, questioning dogma, and swimming against the tide. The tale concerns the efforts of the little black fish in his troublesome voyage to the sea and eventual freedom. Swimming against the tide, breaching the oppressive barriers, going beyond our limits, leading the society and shedding light on the unimaginable horizons, are the major themes of the book.

The Little Land Fish art exhibition project,inspired by the book, is centred on multiperspectival interpretations and discussions of several concepts and problems, thereby fostering new artistic creativity. Our time is marked by a tension between the historical and the contemporary, which could be relieved by adopting an intermediary position that makes the past subservient to the present. This position, alongside new perspectives, is grounded in the creative domain of art. The relationality, the oscillation, the strata between the past and the present, the historical/geographical/cultural fractures, and the connections and disconnections, call for a politicisation of art, and a re-reading and re-interpretation of the role of political power.

The history of civilisation is marked by tension between various ethnic groups and communities, islanders and continentals, the settled and the nomad. The cultural phenomena of a world that is getting smaller, have precipitated discussions around “local culture” and “global culture.” As the differences of individual and collective “cultural identity” remain un-debatable small individual stories have become important in revealing and materialising these notions.

Conceived with the collaboration of EMAA and the Cyprus Chamber of Fine Arts (EKATE), The Little Land Fish Exhibition is supported by İstanbul 2010 European Capital of Culture Agency. The Exhibition aims at discussing the theoretical enhancements of the common identity, reciprocal becomings, borders, and transformations, via the story of a little fish on the island of Cyprus and its adventure to reach wide-open seas, from multiple theoretical perspectives.

Historic Meeting of Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot Artists in Gotland

På svenska tack!
(Page updated August 3, 1999)

Read the declaration of the participants, see some photos and
visit the Art Exhibition and look at a videoclip from the Theatre Performance.
News from the first day: Opening message from UNESCO | Snapshots

Participants | Contact

During the last week of July (26 July to 1 August) a historic meeting was hold on Gotland, the Swedish Island in the middle of the Baltic Sea. 17 Greek Cypriot professionals in different cultural fields was blend together with 12 Turkish Cypriot colleagues on Gotland for a week of joint creative expression in various workshops. Due to the current situation in Cyprus, Turkish Cypriot and Greek Cypriot Artists met in Gotland in the service of peace and friendship.

Satisfied with the successful meeting on Gotland the three poets Neshe Yashin, Peter Curman (chairman of KLYS) and Niki Marangou pose in front of Muramaris at the closing party July 31, 1999.
Niki and Neshe took the initiative to the unique cultural meeting hosted by KLYS and the University College of Gotland.
Photo: Mart Marend / Mare Balticum
But culture knows no borders. Thanks to Internet, the creative forces of both parts of the island can communicate with each other. When KLYS, the Umbrella Organisation of the Swedish Artistic Unions, hosted a parallel conference to the big Ministers of Culture Conference entitled "Power of Culture", UNESCO’s Director General Federico Mayor chose to give the opening address at the KLYS Conference. The theme was "The Role of Culture in Areas of Conflict". One example of important cultural efforts given were the two international writer and translator centres on Rhodes and Gotland islands. At the same time the situation on Cyprus was also illuminated as an example of a region where culture plays a fundamental role in identity.

At the KLYS conference both the female poets Niki Marangou - a well-known Greek Cypriot author from Nicosia – and Neshe Yashin - much talked-about Turkish Cypriot poet from northern part of Cyprus - took the scene. They told about a Greek-Turkish magazine that they had created on the Internet, which the authorities could not stop, "Hade" (meaning "Beginning"). It is also Niki and Neshe that are behind the unique cultural meeting that took place in Visby on Gotland during the last week of July. The objective was not to hold a conference or to discuss culture in general. The objective was to work together and thereafter take the result home to Cyprus and exhibit what has been accomplished together in both parts of the island. Of course there was also a number of meetings with Swedish professionals in the arts in connection with the various workshops. It is our hope that this meeting will lay the foundation for a deepening cultural exchange between Swedish and Cypriot professionals in the arts and culture.

The project has gained great respect and sympathy from many corners. UNESCO’s Assistant Director General, cultural sector, Mr. Hernán Crespo-Toral, an art historian from Ecuador, was present for the Cyprus meeting in Visby as well as UNESCO’s Deputy Head of Proceed, Mr. Genc Seiti. UNESCO has also opened a special account for donations and advanced the basic funds necessary to make the meeting possible.

Front Page of the Cypriot Artists meeting
Timetable | Programme | Participants | Portraits | Contact
The Gotland Declaration
Art exhibition | Video from the theatre

First day of meeting - Message from UNESCO | snapshots
Moore photos

http://www.klys.se/cyprus/index.htm
Organisers are KLYS and Gotland University College, Visby

Other contributors: UNESCO, PROCEED, Municipality of Gotland, County Administration of Gotland, Mare Balticum

The Art Exhibition
(Page updated August 2, 1999)

At the end of the week the result of the painters workshops was presented at the Art School of Gotland. Below you find all the artists presented.

artists participating :Emin Cizenel, Andreas Charalambous, Niki Marangou, Doros Heracleous, Andreas Karayan, Asik Mene, Ruzen Atakan, Efithymia Andrianou

http://www.klys.se/cyprus/art-exhibition.htm

05/03/05
Kolektif Productions


Leaps of Faith
An international arts project for the Green Line and the city of Nicosia, Cyprus.

13 - 29 May, 2005

Curated by Katerina Gregos and Erden Kosova

Project partners: Kolektif Productions, Istanbul Foundation for Arts and Culture, Artists-and-Artists

http://www.leaps-of-faith.com




Leaps of Faith is an international exhibition and multi-disciplinary arts project that will be held in Cyprus in May 2005 and will mark the first time in 30 years that a part of the UN controlled Green Line (buffer zone) dividing the island is opened up for use in an international event.

The Theme of the Project
This project aims to animate and activate public spaces, buildings and sites in the divided city of Nicosia and the war-ravaged Green Line, partitioning the capital of Cyprus, through an international public arts event. The purpose of the project is to reinforce communication and exchange but also to encourage an alternative discourse which diverges from the political perspective that has been largely limited to the internal issues surrounding the perennial Cyprus Problem. This means exploring the parameters of the islands unique geographic position being poised, as it is, between three continents, and situated within a region marked by ongoing political conflicts. At the same time, it aims to shift its attention to a host of existing socio-cultural issues and problems that have been marginalised as a result of the realpolitik such as gender and class issues, minority rights, the ill effects of tourism, de-regulated urban expansion, skewed notions of development and economic and sexual exploitation of immigrants. Rather than focusing solely on issues of opposition, division and closure the exhibition and its parallel events hope to focus on the possibilities for such openings political and cultural co-habitation, communication, and social change, as a way of imagining a peaceful and hopeful future for the island.

Venues
For more than 30 years, the UN controlled buffer zone, with its shelled out homes and shops left in ruins since the armed conflict in 1974, has run through the heart of Nicosia, a visually dramatic and alarming reminder of the hostilities that split the island and prevented Cypriots from interacting with each other until April 2003. The exhibition will be held in the charged site of the so-called Green Line in the abandoned buildings and on the street - and will spill into public spaces, buildings and venues on both sides of the divided city, thus calling into question the function of public space as well as of boundaries, visible and invisible, of the past and of the future.

Structure
Leaps of Faith will include a main exhibition organized by its curatorial team, which will feature 22 international and Cypriot artists whose work has conveyed an understanding of the notion of a contested territory, is engaged with a strong sense of social responsibility, operates site-specifically, and is in a position to be able to highlight the particular physiognomy of the city of Nicosia. The exhibition will be comprised of new, site specific works, which have been based on local research and communication.

A series of film screenings, lectures, artists workshops/talks and a conference have been planned to coincide with the exhibition. The artists workshops and talks are being organized by Noise of Coincidence, a Cypriot collaborative artists group. The film screenings will take place at the Weaving Mill in South Nicosia, the Goethe Institut in the UN buffer zone and Arabahmet Cultural Centre in North Nicosia.

A tri-lingual (English-GreekTurkish) catalogue, designed by Cha Cha Cha Design, is being produced for the exhibition. It will include texts by the exhibition curators as well as by Rana Zincir (project initiator, political scientist/economist), John Nassari (artist and academic), Neshe Yasin (poet), and Maria Hadjipavlou (political scientist, lecturer at the University of Cyprus)

Participating artists in exhibition:
ARTLAB (Great Britain), KATERINA ATTALIDES (Cyprus), MARC BIJL (Netherlands), CALL#192 (Cyprus), HUSSEIN CHALAYAN (Cyprus), PHIL COLLINS (Great Britain), MINERVA CUEVAS (Mexico), KENDELL GEERS (South Africa), SEJLA KAMERIC (Bosnia), SERAP KANAY (Cyprus), SIGALIT LANDAU (Israel), PANAYOTIS MICHAEL (Cyprus), DAN PERJOVSCHI (Romania), SUSAN PHILIPSZ (Great Britain), PLATFORMA 9,81 (Croatia), MINNA RAINIO & MARK ROBERTS (Finland), AKRAM ZAATARI (Lebanon)

Participating artists in film/video screenings and presentations:
ARTISTS WITHOUT WALLS (Israel/Palestine), LONNIE VAN BRUMMELEN (The Netherlands), MARINE HUGONNIER (France), DAVID MASSEY (Israel), ANGELA MELITOPOULOS (Germany), KATARINA REJGER & ERIC VAN DEN BROEK (Netherlands) HITO STEYERL (Germany), ZELIMIR ZILNIK (Serbia)

Artists/groups participating with parallel projects:
DEEP, EMAA Group, Maria Anaxagora, Emin Çizenel, Inci Kansu, Ismet Tatar, Katerina, Neophytidou, Mehmet Yashin, Neshe Yashin, Nilgün Güney, Pembe Gaziler, Phanos Kyriacou, Rüya Resat, Sophia Kakoulli & Chara Savvidou & Constantinos Evangelides, Vicky Pericleous, Dr.Yiannis Papadakis, Zehra Sonya & Nicholas Panayi, Hourig Torossian, Horst Weierstall, The 242 Art Group, Mustafa Hulusi, 2/2n (Skevi Afantites, Hein van Dam, Jessica Goes, Meric Kara, Christos Kyriakides Alexis Marinis, Matalou@home, Jorge Moitas, Daniella Pais, Yiorgos Tsaggari, Zenios Tselepis U4EA, Ayca Tuyluoglu, Kyriaki Costa Hadjipierri, Carolien Vlieger), Serhat Selisik, Anil Ozgurun, Anber Onar

Sponsors
Leaps of Faith is supported by the Open Society Institute, the European Cultural Foundation, the Chrest Foundation, the United Nations Bi-communal Development Programme, which is funded by UNDP and USAID, and executed by UNOPS.

Additional support has been received by the Mondriaan Foundation, FRAME (The Finnish Fund for Art Exchange), the British Council, Technical Chamber of Cyprus (ETEK), The Royal Netherlands Embassy, Cyprus Mail, Yeni Düzen and Politis newspapers, Vakiflar Bank, Goethe-Zentrum Nicosia and the Pharos Trust.

The Ministry of Education and Culture of the Republic of Cyprus is giving support to parallel events organized by Greek Cypriot artists groups.

Contact
For more information: Rana Zincir, Project Initiator. E: rzincir@yahoo.com T: 90 533 734 5886
For press material/images: Göknur Gündogan, Kolektif Productions, Project Assistant
E: pr@ifistanbul.com T: 90 212 243 7433
Exhibition opening times: daily 11 am 8pm

http://www.e-flux.com/shows/view/1966

zehra şonya

FAMAGUSTA EXHİBİTİON
Posted by: zehra şonya
Produced By: zehra Şonya


isimsiz
Posted by: zehra şonya
Produced By: zehra şonya


isimsiz
Posted by: zehra şonya
Produced By: zehra şonya

www.artcitizens.net/ zehra-sonya

TELEMACHOS KANTHOS (1910 -1993)

http://www.cyprusembassy.fi/main/formmanager/gallery/Pictures/files/Telemachos_Kanthos_Exhibition/thumbs_Thumbnail12208577166_Rachel.jpg




Among the thornbushes of Tillyria (1978) Woodcut


http://www.cyprusembassy.fi/main/index.php?&p=Latest_News/1&artid=1216993261_915

Theodoulos

Title:Resolusion, Year:1995, Media:sculpture / cement,metal, Exhibition-Collection:Green Line / Lydra Street , Nicosia, Dimentions:diam 600 h 600 cm







Title:Resolusion, Year:1995, Media:sculpture / cement,metal, Exhibition-Collection:Green Line / Lydra Street , Nicosia, Dimentions:diam 600 h 600 cm

http://www.theodoulosart.com

Hambis Tsangaris

A self-portrait of Hambis just after the invasion of Cyprus in 1974 - a darker mood.



Hambis Tsangaris: History and fable in print
Hambis Tsangaris the celebrated printmaker, story teller and chronicler of the Cyprus’ modern political history, talks to MELISSA REYNOLDS exclusively for Neos Kosmos
23 Nov 2009
MELISSA REYNOLDS
Legendary printmaker Hambis Tsangaris loves stories. His enchanting illustrated tales of heroes and dragons, fairy enchantresses and nocturnal demons have delighted readers and earned him critical acclaim. Equally skilled in chronicling life's harsher realities, Hambis' work has drawn inspiration from love, war and nationalism. His candid and expressive works provide a visual narrative of time and place infused with a range of raw emotion, from grief and pain to sensual pleasure.

Born in the now occupied village of Kontea in 1947, Hambis grew up in an age of political upheaval, a young witness to the tumultuous events that changed the island's social landscape forever.

The son of a farmer, Hambis began making sketches and prints while working in the family fields, later drawing inspiration from politics and war.

Some of his earliest work deals with the military takeover of Greece in 1967 and is featured in a six-metre long triptych, 'After the Independence,' chronicling almost every pivotal political event in the fourteen years between Cyprus' independence and its invasion in 1974.

The Greek dictatorship placed severe constraints on the arts leading to a decisive meeting between Hambis and A. Tassos, a preeminent Greek printmaker who came to exhibit his work in Cyprus in 1971 at the request of President Makarios.

The printmaker extended an unprecedented invitation to Hambis to study with him in Athens.

"He really changed my life, I became a printmaker because I had his help," he says of his teacher who got him 'completely hooked' on printmaking and prepared him for six years of disciplined graphic art study at the Surikov Institute of Moscow.

Hambis was in Moscow at the time of the Turkish takeover of Famagusta in August of 1974. Desperately worried he travelled to Cyprus by ship for a brief visit in October, bringing with him a tent and vital supplies for his displaced parents and sisters "living under the trees" in the village of Xylotymbou.

After graduation Hambis returned home to a divided country working for a short time as a culture and arts writer for Haravgi newspaper although his thoughts were never far from his artistic aspirations.

Hambis continued to document political and social events in his own way, paying homage to martyred patriots and illustrating the collateral damage of war.

He depicts a grim tragedy that will never be salved; of death, grieving mothers, refugees yearning to return home and of the missing for whom hope has all but vanished.

On a personal level an anguished self-portrait of 1979 reveals his own emotional state at the time and he describes an experience familiar to many, "I lost a lot of my pictures, everything. But the place and the pictures are nothing.

What is really lost are our loved ones who were killed in the war and the people who are still missing.

We hope there will be a solution but nobody can bring back the persons missing or killed, so it's nothing that we lost some things."

Like many refugees Hambis has crossed the checkpoint to make the pilgrimage to his childhood home but is frustrated to view it as a mere outsider, sadly reminiscent of a life he remembers consigned forever to the past, "I went there and saw the village and my house - it was very hard.

Everyone understands that a lot of memories return and all our lives before 1974 are in our memory and we never forget this," he says.
Hambis produced a series of prints which serve as an unofficial record of that time, using sketched memories of the old days working in the fields of his father's farm, of buildings, the Catholic church and even village football matches which the entire community once gathered to watch.

Many of his later series reveal his desire for peace, the imagery capturing the emotional bond between the communities, particularly women, who have reached beyond politics to reconnect through a shared sense of loss.

"All the symbols are the same, right and left, Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots and their feelings to be together," he explains,"On both sides the women dressed in black cry for the war, there are destroyed homes and two doves, the symbols of peace in Cyprus. These are my feelings and I hope that this day will come."

Reluctant to speculate on the outcome of the country's current settlement negotiations, Hambis is firmly committed to his personal dream of reunification, "Some like partition and some don't; I am with the people who would like my country to be one part."

Hambis demonstrates remarkable creativity in drawing from a diverse range of muses, from war and erotica to folk tales and in doing so generates new ideas and techniques in printmaking.

"If it was not for the coup and invasion my inspiration, my thoughts, would have been on other things. For example for many years I have made a lot of prints about the villages and traditions of Cyprus. I hope that there will never be another war to make prints because it is a normal situation to be (inspired by) what is around me," he explains.

His treatment of old folk tales has identified Hambis as a master storyteller, his beautifully illustrated books of myth and legend treasured by adults and children alike. The first, Spanos and the Forty Dragons, was published in 1986, followed by The Prince of Venice, The Fey Enchantress, and two volumes of Kalikandgiari stories. His tale of the Leprechaun and the Plaything was awarded the state prize for literature in 2007, an accolade bestowed on his illustrations for Kalikandgiari - Cypriot Tales, the following year.

Influenced by 'the language of the story,' Hambis' illustrations are in perfect harmony with scenes and characters and have become their accepted incarnation emulated on stage and in film.' He has conferred on each a unique style, from black and white linocut designs for Spanos, to bold Prince of Venice collages designed to reflect the splendour of the city in which the tale unfolds.

His last, skilfully recounts the testimonies of the old generation and their brushes with the Kalikandgiari, the spectral imps which terrorise housewives and create mischief during the twelve nights of the dodecameron.
In 2008 Hambis finally realised a long term dream of establishing a national printmaking centre and museum to share his skills and promote the art form in Cyprus,

"It was my need to make this museum, to teach people about what I have learned about printmaking," he says passionately.

The remote Turkish Cypriot village of Platanisteia is an unlikely location for one of Cyprus' most intriguing art collections and printmaking school, yet Hambis was instantly attracted by its beauty and solitude as a place 'to be free to create.'

Until just a few years ago the buildings were in ruins.

Today the tranquil ambience and light-filled space provide creative stimulation to students and visitors who flock there to learn from the great printmaker.

In August the centre offers free classes in honour of Tassos and hosts an annual documentary and animated film festival organised by Hambis' son Yiorgos.

The museum houses a global spectrum of contemporary artworks along with prints and tools dating from the 16th century illustrating the history of printmaking techniques.

A second exhibition space is a convergence of works by Greek, Turkish and Cypriot artists, featuring striking prints by Stelios Votsis, Tilemahos Kanthos and Costas Averkiou along with several by Hambis' own students.

Managing the museum and school is a full-time job for Hambis and his wife Helen, and though the demanding schedule leaves little time for creativity he has set himself the ambitious task of completing another book of folk tales while continuing his 'My Friends,' portrait series.

To date Hambis has completed nine personalised tributes to cherished friends including President of the Union of Cyprus Journalists, Andreas Kannaouros, and President of the Republic, Demitris Christofias.
Their relationship goes back years, including their time as fellow students in Moscow.

Hambis strongly believes his friend has both the strength of character and determination to lead the country to an appropriate solution to the Cyprus problem, "I believe in him one hundred per cent, he's a real patriot; he loves the people, he loves Cyprus and all Cypriot people. I am sure about this."

These days Hambis is happy to leave politics to others preferring to focus on the museum and the future, "I have quieter thoughts, I have other things in my head," he admits.

Despite past adversity the artist dwells on the positive aspects of his life which he summarises in just a few simple words, "I feel very good. I say many times that I can die anytime happy because I have so many experiences of life.

I am happy with my work and I will never stop working," he vows, "I feel fulfilled."

"All the symbols are the same, right and left, Turkish Cypriots and Greek Cypriots and their feelings to be together. On both sides the women dressed in black cry for the war, there are destroyed homes and two doves, the symbols of peace in Cyprus. These are my feelings and I hope that this day will come." - Hambis Tsangaris -

http://www.neoskosmos.com/news/en/Print-making-Cyprus-Arts-Hambis?page=show

Eyeless in Gaza
Colleagues laughed when a young journalist in Palestine announced his intention to tell the story of that region though cartoons. Twenty years later, Joe Sacco is one of the world's leading exponents of the graphic novel form…
Rachel Cooke
The Observer, Sunday 22 November 2009
larger | smaller

Joe Sacco in Pimlico , London, last month. Photograph: Richard Saker

In his books, Joe Sacco always draws himself the same way: neat and compact, a small bag slung across his body, a notebook invariably in his hand. At a single glance, the reader understands that he is both reporter and innocent abroad, an unlikely combination that propels him not only to ask difficult questions, but to go on asking them long after all the other hacks have given up and gone home. You sense in this black-and-white outline, too, a certain taut, physical alertness. Should there be trouble, he is, it seems, ready to run.

Footnotes in Gaza
by Joe Sacco
432pp, Jonathan Cape Ltd, £18.00

Buy Footnotes in Gaza at the Guardian bookshop
The expression on his face, however, is more difficult to read. Sacco keeps his eyes permanently hidden behind the shine of his owlish spectacles; anyone wishing to gauge his deeper emotions must rely instead on his bottom lip. Basically, this lip has two modes. When he is frustrated, bewildered or angry, it moves stubbornly forward and its corners droop. When he is happy, contentedly drinking beer, say, or mildly flirting, it peels back to reveal his teeth, which are big and rabbity and exceedingly un-American, as if crafted from a piece of old orange peel.

Is his eyelessness intended to send some kind of subtle message regarding the reliability of the reporter-narrator? Sacco, who in real life has elfin features and brown eyes, and is sitting next to me at a gleaming white table in the offices of his London publisher, winces. "It is deliberate now," he says. "But it certainly wasn't in the beginning. If you look at the first few pages of [my first book] Palestine, you'll see that I didn't used to be able to draw at all! Also, back then, I really was more like a tourist than a reporter and I suppose the way I drew myself reflected that. I was this naive person who didn't know where he was going or what he was doing. Since then, I've learned how to behave; nowadays, it would be a lie to make myself seem too bumbling.

"But some people have told me that hiding my eyes makes it easier for them to put themselves in my shoes, so I've kind of stuck with it. I'm a nondescript figure; on some level, I'm a cipher. The thing is: I don't want to emote too much when I draw myself. The stories are about other people, not me. I'd rather emphasise their feelings. If I do show mine – let's say I'm shaking [with fear] more than the people I'm with – it's only ever to throw their situation into starker relief."

Thanks to publishing hyperbole, writers often get called "unique". But Sacco's work truly is, combining as it does oral history, memoir and reportage with cartoons in a way that, when he started out, most people – himself included, at times – considered utterly preposterous.

Twenty years on, though, and the American cartoonist is widely regarded as the author of two masterpieces: Palestine, in which he reported on the lives of the inhabitants of the West Bank and Gaza in the early 1990s, with flashbacks to 1948, the beginning of the first Intifada, and the first Gulf War; and Safe Area Gorazde, which describes his experiences in Bosnia in 1994-95. Palestine won an American Book Award, and has sold 30,000 copies in the UK alone (this is a huge figure for a comic book, let alone a political comic book).

"With the exception of one or two novelists and poets, no one has ever rendered this terrible state of affairs better than Joe Sacco," wrote Edward Said in his foreword to the complete edition of Palestine (it was originally published as a series of nine comics). Safe Area Gorazde, following ecstatic reviews in which Sacco was named Art Spiegelman's heir apparent and tipped to win a Pulitzer, won the 2001 Eisner Award for best original graphic novel.

Footnotes in Gaza, his new book and his first long narrative for six years, returns Sacco to Palestine and, being rooted as much in the past as in the present, is perhaps his most ambitious work to date. But why go back? Aren't there plenty of crises to report elsewhere?

He shrugs. All he knows is that, a few years ago, he felt a fresh "compulsion" to write about Gaza; events in the territory had left him feeling "agitated". So in 2001, he and journalist Chris Hedges travelled there on assignment for Harper's magazine. The idea was that they would go to one city and focus on its history alone. Sacco suggested Khan Younis. In the back of his mind, he dimly remembered something he had read in Noam Chomsky's book, The Fateful Triangle, about an incident during the Suez crisis in 1956 in which a large number of Palestinian refugees were killed by Israeli soldiers.

"We asked around, people confirmed the story, and we thought it important for the history of the town," says Sacco. "But when Chris's piece was published, they cut Khan Younis out. Well, that further agitated me. I know the big picture is important but the big picture is made up of a lot of smaller things. It's a shame when those things get lost. It seems… unfair. I wanted to look at it myself. According to the UN, 275 people died in Khan Younis: why did that figure deserve to return to obscurity?"

In 2003, he went back. But once there, Sacco found himself becoming increasingly interested in another incident that had occurred around the same time – November 1956 – in the neighbouring town of Rafah. According to a couple of sentences in a UN report, scores of Palestinian civilians had also been shot by Israeli forces there during a procedure that should have been standard (the Israeli soldiers were screening Rafah's men in the hope of finding terrorists). Sacco wanted to know what had happened. Had the Israelis, as the UN report surmised, simply "panicked and opened fire on the running crowd"? Or was it more complicated than that?

Moreover, what effect had this incident had on the collective memory of Rafah, now once again in brutal conflict with the Israeli army?

In Rafah, almost all men of military age had reputedly been caught up in the incident so there were likely to be survivors still living whom he could interview at length. As a result, Footnotes in Gaza is divided in two. A first, shorter section investigates the killings at Khan Younis, and a second, longer section is devoted to events in Rafah.

"Both towns stand in for all those places, all those things, that are more widely left out of history. They're footnotes, but these were also an important day in some people's lives."

Footnotes in Gaza features all Sacco's trademarks. For a start, there is the author himself, one minute infuriated beyond all endurance by checkpoint bureaucracy, the next delightedly scoffing honeyed Arab pastries; unlike many reporters, Sacco is as interested in the process of getting the story as in the story itself, a fact which only serves to remind you of how highly filtered and polished most "news" is.

Then there are the people he meets. Sacco's ear for the way Palestinian men talk is as sharp as ever (as Edward Said has put it, they exchange their tales of suffering the way fishermen compare the size of their catch). Ditto his nose for lies and embellishments. As usual, his fixer – this time, his right-hand man is called Abed – takes a starring role, his tenacity seeming to surprise even his employer at times. Best of all, there are the moments when Sacco covers a page with one or two large frames, these bigger, more panoramic drawings capturing not only the claustrophobic scrum of a single, 21st-century Rafah street, from aerials on corrugated tin roofs down, but also the way it might have looked when Palestinian refugees arrived there in 1948 (he used old photographs as the basis for these drawings and has rendered the land dry, empty and bleakly forbidding).

But Footnotes is also a darker, less humorous book than Palestine; Sacco calls it "sombre". It's not only that the old men and women he interviews are describing such painful events. Footnotes is punctuated by a sense of history repeating itself or, perhaps, of history failing ever to stop, not even for the merest breather. As someone in Gaza tells Sacco: "Events are continuous."

You look at his drawings of hundreds of men sitting in a pen one day in 1956, under armed guard, no food, no water, their hands on their heads, and you could be looking at an equivalent atrocity at almost any time before or since, and in any number of places. "There are only so many ways you can skin a cat when it comes to screening people so you can kill them," says Sacco. "It was a horrific incident in and of itself but it is also representative of any number of other incidents, even if I'm reluctant to make direct comparisons myself."

Meanwhile, life in present-day Gaza grinds on. We see Sacco and his room-mate, Abed, listening to mortar fire, braving the curfew (the book is set before the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza) and witnessing the demolition of homes. The book is haunted by a ghostly presence called Khaled, a man wanted by the Israelis. Always on the move, he has not had a proper night's sleep for several years. In Sacco's drawings, Khaled's features – his hawkish nose and long chin – cast impossibly long shadows over the rest of his face, leaving the reader unnervingly unsure whether he is to be feared or pitied.

Joe Sacco was born in Malta in 1960. His family emigrated, first to Australia and then, finally, to America when he was just a boy; his parents, who were socialists, were worried about the influence of the Catholic church on Maltese life. Sacco believes that the experiences of his parents had a big impact on his career. "In Australia, there were a lot of Europeans and they would all meet up and the commonality was the war. You heard a lot about it. I guess I realised conflict was just a part of life."

He decided to be a reporter and did a journalism degree at the University of Oregon (he still lives in Portland). His early jobs, however, were so indescribably boring – he worked initially for the journal of the National Notary Association – that he soon decided he'd be better off working for himself. First, he set up his own comics magazine. Later, he had a staff job on the Comics Journal. As far as his own drawing and writing goes, his influences include George Orwell and – this makes such perfect sense – Bruegel.

It was in the early 1990s, while he was living in Berlin, that he became interested in the Middle East. "I didn't have some grand plan. I just felt like I needed to go there and see for myself. It's so under-reported in America. At the time, I was trying to make a living as a cartoonist. I thought to myself: I can't just be some adventure tourist but maybe it is conceivable that I could do a comic about it. But I didn't even know if I would have the guts to go into the West Bank! This is how naive I was: I was bumbling around in East Jerusalem for a few days and I met a tourist who'd been to Nablus in a taxi. Oh, I thought: I could just get a taxi! I was pretty sheepish about telling people what I was doing. If I met a journalist or someone from an NGO, I was always afraid they would laugh – and one or two did."

Did he seriously believe he could make a living from this kind of work? "I'll be honest. I thought it was commercial suicide, writing about Palestine. I was cutting my own throat! It came out in nine issues and each one sold progressively worse. The last one sold under 2,000 copies in the US. That's when I thought: OK, I really made a mistake. When I did the next book [Safe Area Gorazde], I decided to do it as a single volume, simply so I wouldn't get demoralised as I went along."

It was Safe Area Gorazde that changed his fortunes. "Most American journalists agreed with my position on Bosnia and it was incredibly warmly received. The New York Times named it a notable book of the year and I received a Guggenheim fellowship, which really helped me financially. So when Palestine came out in a single volume, it had a new life. It sold 60,000 copies in America and it was widely translated. It has long since outsold Safe Area Gorazde. I think it'll be the book I'm remembered for."

In the years since, Sacco has published several more tales from Bosnia, among them the brilliant The Fixer: A Story From Sarajevo, and he has reported from Iraq and Ingushetia for newspapers and magazines. He is now at work on two projects: a 48-page comic for the Virginia Quarterly Review about African migrants who attempt to get into Europe via Malta, and a story for Harper's about Camden, New Jersey, currently the poorest city in the US.

When he's not travelling, he treats his work "exactly like a proper job… I have to: Footnotes in Gaza took me four years. I have to produce at a certain rate and stick to a rigid two pages every five days. I don't story-board. I hardly even sketch anything out. I draw directly on to the board with my pencil. It's all hand-drawn. If I make a mistake, I cut out the panel and cut and paste the old-fashioned way".

Nevertheless, he is often away from home for long periods. In his books, he sometimes depicts himself gazing dreamily at a pretty girl in a bar. Has his career played havoc with his private life? "It played havoc with my life until I was almost 40. I have a girlfriend now and a mortgage, which feels pretty odd, but for about a 10-year period I was just so broke. I had to ask friends and my parents for money. It's difficult to have a personal life when you're broke because you can't afford to go out, and it isn't that attractive, either; people get fed up pretty quickly."

It seems to me, though, that Sacco must be quite tough; even when things are at their most difficult in Gaza or Bosnia, they never really seem to get him down. "Well, I know I'm going to leave," he says. "If I knew I was trapped the way people in Gaza are trapped, their lives simply closed down, maybe I would go insane. That's not to say that my stomach doesn't get a little twisted up as I'm going in and as I'm leaving. I love Gaza. I wouldn't say I see physical beauty in it. It's more to do with its people and my experiences with them: that physical closeness that you can't really avoid. Things are so hard there but – wow! – they always feed me the most amazing food." Still, for the "sake of my own sanity" he is planning on stepping away from war reporting in the near future. He is planning a graphic memoir about the Rolling Stones.

Will he one day return to Gaza for a third time? Or perhaps he could look at the conflict from Sderot or some other town on the Israeli side. "It depends on what I feel in my gut. There are lots of places in the world where things are pretty bad. When I read about them, though, I have to wait for the story to work on me. With Bosnia, it took a full year for that to happen. But I do feel Palestinians have been misrepresented in the America media over a long time; we've internalised all sorts of things about them.

"With Footnotes, I want people to appreciate the lost molecules of conflict: the details and sideshows that only exist until the people who remember them die. But I also want them to remember, when they're watching the news, that it comes to them out of context and that history always comes back to haunt you. An incident can resonate for a whole century or even longer."

As he considers the weight of all those years, his eyes narrow and I think to myself how good it is to be able to see them at last.

guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2010

http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/nov/22/joe-sacco-interview-rachel-cooke/print

Heidi Trautmann


98 - UN and art in support of Peace Talks : photos
10.11.2009

This report No. 98 is in continuation of No.91. Now I have received a good selection of photos. Unfortunately, we normal people are not allowed in to see it.

Some of the work I recognize. Please read the individual comments to the pictures. given hereunder.

Heidi

I repeat here the names of the artists:

Argyro Tomazou, one of the exhibition’s organizers, said: “The works on display are the creation of seven distinguished Cypriot artists, in a variety of disciplines. Ashik Mene, Kyriakos Kallis, Nilgun Guney, Chara Savvidou, Evgenia Vasiloude and Ruzen Atakan are displaying pieces of sculpture, painting, printing, and in situ installations. The themes touch on interdependence in the island, the asphyxiation of the division and multiple identities imposed, the courage and will required to tie up the solution into a safe knot, a picket line protest for creative negotiations, and nature awaiting unification and regeneration. In addition, the poet Nese Yasin, one of the initiators of the whole project, who met originally with both the leaders back in January, puts forward a poem, a common oath for the negotiating table, attempting to commit both leaders to a genuine exchange of trust, respect, heart and courage, like surgeons bound by the Hippocratic oath, for the success of the peace talks.





UN ART-EXHIBITION
LIST OF ART-WORKS AS EXHIBITED 21/10/09

Conference Hall 1



Kyriakos Kallis «Ars aenigma est», 2007 part of sculptural installation, polyester & fiberglass
«Split up, the ‘self’ multiplies; it becomes the ‘selves’ which adjoin each other. They are connected through the masque of need gagged, just to gasp breath from each other. The green military chaki and the asphyxiating masques symbolize the schizophrenic situation which the green line creates in the psyche and identity of Cypriots.»


Chara Savvidou Untitled, 2009, installation, mixed technique with 6 pickets
«The six pickets, standing on the floor, facing the two leaders in the specific space, compose
the work itself as an installation. As an allegory of a similar situation, where political
leaders are confronted with demonstrators with pickets in their hands, putting out slogans.
The slogan doesn’t function only as a mediator of demands, but, in s strange way, it
replaces the human being, which loses its identity behind the flat discourse of confrontation
used in politics. As the individual disappears behind a collective reality, at the same time we wonder how virtual can this reality be.
The paintings come to replace this absence with a multi-dimensional presence. The presence of art here acts as a proposal of a more substantial communication, beyond sterile rationalism. “The work of art is not a slogan, it’s a vision, a poetry”. This is a reminder for more creative approaches to reality, where there are no rigid positions, oppositions and obsolete rationales.»



Ashik Mene «Untitled », 2009, Print on paper
«In order to have an effective negotiation process and to reach to a strong final solution, it is necessary to have all Cypriots believe in and want this. A sustainable solution itself is only possible through constructive cooperation.»

Nilgun Guney « Republic of Hantekemandre», 2008, Installation, mixed Media
«This installation takes up the problem of identity. The artist, having obtained five different identities herself due to the turbulent recent history of her native land Cyprus, reflects in this particular work the visible dimension of the question ‘Who am I?’ along with an ironic approach to internal conflicts that stem from social conditions.
In an imaginary land, new identities are distributed to people. Some characters, accentuated to represent the public, are somehow ignored, undermined, and excluded by the majority. The artist highlights these ‘other’ed characters, in the ID cards of whom, a personal history remains unrevealed. The stories of these characters are narrated in the manner of a novel, ironically treating them as elements of fiction.
The work portrays a rebellion to humanity (actually to oneself), which is yet the source of various conflicts and pain, causing eventually its own destruction. »



Conference Hall 2

Ruzen Atakan «Without Faces», 2009, oil on canvas, 200x180 cm
«The two communities in Cyprus are living in such a separation that is bound to end with unification. An uncertain future; will they unite? Will they get separated? Are we at fight now? Is there going to be a fight? Are we at peace at the moment or are we going to a have peaceful solution? The politicians are the ones who are having their societies live these circumstances. During each new process, we have new actors come to the stage but its only deadlocks that they do present. That’s because the new actors do not have faces. Even though they physically appear and have names they all look alike. Just like the players who want to win the game. They cannot create a difference to overcome this deadlock. Being different is what’s going to carry our societies to peace. I , Ruzen Atakan, as an artist will not remember any of the faces (portraits) in these peace process as long as they do not make any difference.

Evgenia Vasiloude «Hymn to Demeter - ... come blessed and pure one, and laden with the fruits of
summer, bring peace together with the welcome rule of law ...», 2005
Engravings’ installation with silkscreen prints on canvas and PVC transparencies, A pair of silk screens 70x100cm on canvas and transparency
«Borders don’t just negate the regularity and evolution in the lives of humans. They also hinder nature in a similar way to develop and grow fruit. As peoples’ bonds are lost, their ties with nature are simultaneously lost too. The restitution of all lost bonds will redeem nature and its inhabitant.
I propose this engravings’ installation here, to convey my wish for this nature and these meetings, in this space, to bear real fruit again.
This is how I want to think of Mesaoria plain when I see her now ….»


Nese Yasin «THE OATH FOR THE NEGOTIATING TABLE», 2009, poetry
«People who are elected or nominated to special positions are asked to make an oath. Presidents, Members of Parliaments swear an oath before they start their term of office. This oath is necessary because with their decisions they are responsible for the well being and life of millions of people. Doctors also take the Hippocratic Oath because our lives are in their hands.
The Negotiating Table can be seen as the Operating Table for Cyprus where the island is lying critically injured, cut in two pieces and bleeding. The two leaders are like the doctors who are responsible for the life of this patient. They are also responsible for our lives and well being.
We are living in one of the most heavily militarized places in the world where five armies are present. We give guns into the hands of young people, put them in army camps loaded with ammunition at an age when they are not experienced enough to deal with the pressures and hardships of life.
The Negotiating Table is the table where we are expecting a decision about our fate. It is the most important location in the country at the moment. We can expect both, a sunrise or a sunset from this location.
These considerations formed the basis of my work. I placed the different items of the Oath on the road where the two leaders walk towards the negotiating table, so that it will be the first thing in their minds before they begin talking about the life and well being of the people. I specially chose hand writing to stress the ‘human element’ of the process and to remind them that they are not mechanical tools of politics and diplomacy, but also fragile human beings who have to put their hearts and emotions into their decisions.
They will have the Oath in front of them in Turkish and Greek as a scroll and as a poster in English on the wall to be signed. »

Entrance Ηall

Nilgun Guney «Nicosia», 2004, Acrylic on canvas and collage


Rouzen Atakan « A Bit of Courage », 2009, mixed Media
« A Bit of Courage »

ARTISTS’ BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES

Nese Yasin
Neşe Yaşın was born in 1959 in Cyprus. She is a poet well known and read on both sides of divided Cyprus. She studied Sociology at Middle East Technical University in Ankara. She directed and presented a literary program called “41st Room” at CYBC radio (1992-2007) and the program Peace Garden (2001-2003) at radio ASTRA.
She is currently teaching language and literature at the Turkish Studies department of University of Cyprus, writing weekly columns for BirGün newspaper (Turkey) and Yenidüzen newspaper (Cyprus).
She has published six volumes of poetry ‘Hyacinth and Narcissus’ (1979), ‘Tears of Wars’ (1980), ‘Doors’ (1992), ‘The Moon is Made of Love’ (2000), ‘Chambers of Memory’ (2005), ‘Selected poems’ (2008) and one novel‚ ‘Secret History of Sad Girls’ (2002). Her poetry has been translated to 20 languages, published in literary magazines and anthologies. She has participated in poetry festivals and readings around the world. Among others she has received the Anthias Pierides Award in 1998.

Kyriakos Kallis
Born in Dhali, Cyprus in 1960. Graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts of Prague(1982-1988), on a state-scholarship, specializing on sculpture. Since 1990 he has participated in various solo and group exhibitions, sculptural symposiums and collectiveart- programs and presentations in Cyprus, Greece, London, Germany, Czech Republic, Italy and France. He is a Member of the Executive Committee of the Cyprus Chamber of Fine Arts(2006-09), and part of the art group ‘Noise of Coincidence’ with contemporary action. With the work “Ars aenigma est” he participated in the International Exhibition of Sculptures and Installations “OPEN 10” in Lido-Venice (2007), and more recently in UNSECO Paris.
He teaches fine arts in state schools in Cyprus.

Evgenia Vasiloude
Evgenia Vasiloude is an engraver, born in Pera Orinis, Cyprus. Graduated the State School of Fine Arts in Kiev, Ukraine, a Master in Fine Arts degree (1981-88), specialising in Engraving and Graphic Arts. Since 1992, she has shown her work in four solo shows, and she has participated in group exhibitions in Cyprus. She has also taken part in biennials and other engraving exhibitions abroad, including, Slovenia, Croatia, Greece, Switzerland, England, France, Russia, Spain and Sweden. Recently she took part in the group presentation of Cypriot engravers, “Nicosia-Portland Project”, in the state of Oregon in the USA. Her work, “Hymn to Demeter”, won the second jury prize at the 9th Cairo International Biennial, in 2003. Her works are found in the State Collection of Contemporary Cypriot Art, in bank collections, as well as in private ones. Thematically and conceptually, her work originally focused on the female figure, embodied with references to mythology, especially, the goddess of nature and of fertility. More recently, she deals with issues on nature, the environment and women’s identity.
She teaches fine and graphic arts in state schools in Cyprus since 1989.


Asık Mene
Aşık Mene was born in Larnaca, Cyprus in 1955; the artist started his studies at the Istanbul State Academy of Fine Arts in 1973. He graduated from the Neşet Günal atelier of the Academy, in 1982 and returned to North Cyprus. 1988-2008 His work has been seen in numerous solo and participated exhibitions in Istanbul, Nicosia and abroad. He currently works as a freelance artist and as an art director.


Ruzen Atakan
Ruzen Atakan was born in 1966. She got her BA degree in Fine Arts in 1988 from Gazi University – Ankara. She participated in a number of group exhibitions as well as having several numbers of solo exhibitions both in Cyprus and abroad. She also won numerous awards. Currently, she is an art teacher at Nicosia Fine Art School.
For Two consecutive years Ruzen Atakan organized “Arabahmet Event” in order to promote Arabahmet quarter (1998-2000). The former inhabitants of the quarter such as “Mr. Altıparmak” were invited and gave a talk on the old times of the quarter. A documentary film on Mr Becerikli was also projected. Several exhibitions, workshops and discussions were held during the event.


Nilgun Güney
Nilgün Güney as born in Nicosia, Cyprus 1952. She graduated from Graphic Arts Department of the State Fine Arts Academy with an MA degree 1976. 1991-1998 She worked as secondary level state art school Teacher of Art, she was
Art and Culture Adviser for İktisat Bank for four years. She is also the founder of Founder of European-Mediterranean Arts Association (EMAA). She participated in several solo and group exhibitions and holds numerous awards.

Chara Saavidou
Born in Cyprus. Sculptress.

Neshe Yashin's Oath for the Negotiating Table

I will bear in mind that every time I sit at this table thousands of lives outside are waiting for me, that I hold the fate of children, young people, those older and even that of the unborn in my hands.

That I will not forget the pain suffered by this country over so many years, the fight between brothers, those forcefully torn away from their homes who longed for the other half of their country over many years.

That I will remember the sorrowful faces of women who lost their sons

as I remember my mother’s face and that I will work hard so that not even one son of this country will take up arms and kill another son.

I will include the women of my country in the peace process whose bodies were used without mercy and who suffered the worst of pain throughout the armed conflicts and benefit from their intelligence and sensitivities.

That I will openly present my fears, concerns and longings and will try to understand the fears and concerns of my opposite.

That I will do all I can for the interest of all communities in Cyprus and not just of my own community and for their future and happiness.

That before I object to what my opposite says I will try and understand the situation he finds himself in and his difficulties and will make every effort to find the common ground which will benefit all of Cyprus.

That I will not succumb to the threats of those who do not want to see this country united.

That I will try and do what is best for Cyprus during the most critical moments using my creativity and courage.

That I will propose trust instead of suspicion, hope instead of concern, sharing instead of nationalism.

That I will go beyond the borders of my thinking so that the seas will be the borders of this small island.

That I will set an example to the whole country by the understanding and fraternity I demonstrate at this table.

That I will perceive this table not as a boxing ring where I attempt to defeat my opposite but as a table of friendship where peace in our common country will be established.

That I will regard my opposite not as my opponent but the child of our common mother, Cyprus, and as my sibling sharing the same house.

That whenever I sit at this table I will bring with me my intelligence as well as my heart and my courage

That I will not adhere to the negotiating tactics of the past and will always keep the big picture in mind

That I will not allow any external powers or any internal political calculations to influence me and that I will keep my vision on the long term and not the short term future of my country.

That in place of intransigence and non-compromise I will put generosity and magnanimity

That I will review the positions I am intransigent on and will find creative options in order to reach an agreement with my opposite

That I will not sacrifice the future of our children and grandchildren for the sake of the short term interests of today.

That I will embrace all diversity and try and build a future where they can exist in harmony

That I will not leave this table without ensuring the reunification of our country and securing a future without conflict .

I pledge with all my heart that I will successfully complete this task of extraordinary importance.

http://www.heiditrautmann.com/category.aspx?CID=3325831342

Feature: Art works adorn negotiating rooms, giving life to peace talks on Cyprus
Source: Xinhua [14:42 July 14 2009]Comments
The ground plan of Nicosia, Europe's last divided capital, is printed on a huge oil painting. Over flying is a motionless superheroine discolored by time. "Oh, no! I have arrived too late!"

That is the theme of this art work that decorates the back wall of the main negotiating room, where Greek and Turkish Cypriot leaders have met weekly since last September, trying to work out a mutually acceptable solution to the decades-old Cyprus problem.

Along with other paintings, prints, handmade paper, collages, mixed media and installations, the "superwoman" gives life to the bungalow rooms, part of the now-defunct Nicosia airport located inside the UN-controlled buffer zone, which has separated the eastern Mediterranean island since 1974.

Alexander Downer, special adviser of the UN Secretary-General on Cyprus, unveiled on Monday the new art exhibition, with all the works on display made by female Cypriot artists.

The former Australian foreign minister said the art works made strong statements, in some cases political, in some cases emotional, human and topographic, about the divided island and the issues Cyprus is facing.

"It's important that these rooms are rooms of spirit and have some character and some emotion about them," said Downer, who applauded the contribution of the artists.

He added that all the works will at least make the atmosphere "not boring" for the leaders of the island's two rival communities, when they try hard on the negotiating table.

Argyro Toumazou, one of the organizers of the show, told reporters that the exhibition pieces clearly center on "painful issues of Cyprus."

"Those issues include the traumatic loss of land, property and deeds; the natural beauty of the island, which defies polemics, and the role copper has played in its history," she said.

"There is also the unbearable uncertainty of a divided Nicosia, the clash of identities and historical interpretations," Toumazou added.

Tatiana Ferahian has lent her mixed-media work "Turkish Coffee" to the rolling exhibition.

At the inside bottom of eight coffee cups fixed in line on the wall are miniature drawings of visual panoramas from the two sides of Cyprus.

When asked why she calls it "Turkish Coffee," instead of "Cypriot Coffee," the Greek Cypriot artist replied: "The key to any solution is in the hand of Turkey."

On the same day, Turkish Cypriot leader Mehmet Ali Talat flew to Turkey, on a mission to seek a coordinated position on the negotiations. Naturally, Greece always stands by the Greek Cypriot side.

Downer, sometimes finding himself sandwiched between the feuding sides, laughed at the idea of putting him on the painting as a "superman" with the superheroine, who Cypriot artists say has arrived too late as a saviour for Cyprus.

http://world.globaltimes.cn/europe/2009-07/446473.html