THE PRESS and Information Office (PIO) has secured thousands of photos from the archives of Cyprus’ first-ever photo journalist, Felix Yiaxis, covering the period 1945 to 1965.
The deal was struck with Yiaxis’ widow Eleni to acquire the archive, which spans some of the most turbulent years of the island’s history but also documents numerous aspects of Cyprus life.
The PIO said in a statement that the photos were extremely valuable, as some of the earlier images were from a period where few photos of local events existed.
Yiaxis has been described as the “father of Cypriot photojournalism” in a 1999 Education Ministry book paying tribute to Cypriot photojournalists.
Felix Yiaxis was christened Eftychios Michalis Yiaxis and was born in Nicosia in 1922.
The name Yiaxis, which means “fine fellow” in Turkish, was a nickname given to his father who opened a hotel on Ledra Street under the same name. The hotel was sold to the Louis group in the 1950s.
The young Yiaxis had asked for a camera for his sixth birthday and when he was 12 he started to paint the black and white images in colour. He also set up his own dark room in the hotel.
At 20, Yiaxis sold his first photograph for ten shillings to Crown Colonist magazine. It depicted a meeting of the British governor of Cyprus with a visiting British Minister.
After that, Yiaxis decided it would be a good idea to supply local photos to the media on the island, which until then were supplied only from official government sources.
Unfortunately, his first attempt was blocked when the newspaper asked him to pay them to publish his photo. But he persisted and the owner of the paper agreed to a trial period during which circulation increased.
Other papers followed suit and approached Yiaxis and he went into photojournalism full time and from there into filming local events. He soon sold his Cyprus newsreels abroad and found himself centre stage in 1948 when the British were transferring Jewish refugees from Europe to the newly-established state of Israel.
Until 1955, Yiaxis was the only professional photo reporter in Cyprus and after the EOKA struggle began that year, demand for news from Cyprus began increasing daily, and more people like Yiaxis appeared on the scene, including Georges der Parthogh.
By then Yiaxis was working full time for United Press International (UPI) and travelling all over the Middle East and even to Africa and India.
“He covered everything from protests by local children to great big wars,” der Parthogh said yesterday. “In fact he was also a goodwill ambassador for Cyprus.”
