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.

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