There’s a new exhibition with works by four Cypriot artists of the interwar generation. The Visibilities/Echoes exhibition, hosted at Garage within Nicosia’s old town, concludes a thematic project dedicated to artists who are classified as Second-Generation Cypriot artists in the historiography of con-temporary Cypriot art.
Following two other exhibitions in 2017 and 2018 that had the same thematic, Visibilities/Echoes has been organised on the initiative of the Lefteris Economou Cultural Foundation. The foundation aims to promote and recontextualise the work and artistic achievements of the artists of that period through the connection of their art and creative paths with contemporary artistic production.
The exhibition, running until April 20, collects and presents works by Vera Gavrielides-Hadjida, Katy Stephanides, Eleni Charikleides and Pavlina Pavlides. The four artists appeared on the artistic scene during the period of Independence (1960) and were active participants in the explorations and fer-mentations of the visual arts scene of their time.
Being among the first female graduates of Schools of Fine Arts, they held the tools, the knowledge and the penetrating artistic gaze that allowed them to carve out their own path in the field. Their work has been presented in solo and group exhibitions while some of them have represented Cyprus at important art showcases abroad.
The choice of artworks for the exhibition Visibilities/Echoes corresponds to the time period of 1960 – 1980 and reflects the visual style of each artist through the exposition of their aesthetic, expressive and thematic concerns. Seeking the utilisation of the mass of information accumulated through the curatorial research, two contemporary creators were invited to produce alternative responses to this material within the framework of the exhibition.
Natalie Yiaxi creates an artist’s book, in which she introduces a hypothetical condition of a meeting and a talk with the four artists and their work, commenting on their absence or inequitable presence throughout the narratives of the historiography of Cypriot art.
Athina Kasiou studies and approaches the material to which she is granted access and in collaboration with an actress creates a theatrical response structured upon the need to approach and come closer to the stories of these women.
As a result, the exhibition aims to create the conditions for a reappraisal and contemporisation of the importance of the presence of these four women artists in the art scene by urging viewers to turn their gaze in manifold ways towards their work and practices.
Visibilities / Echoes
Exhibition showcasing work by Vera Gavrielidou-Hadjida, Katy Staphanides, Eleni (Helene) Chariklei-dou, Pavlina Pavlides. Until April 20. Garage, Nicosia. Tuesday–Friday: 5pm–8pm, Saturday 10am–12pm and 5pm-8pm. Tel: 22-001508
