16 Cypriot artists participating in the Purity Exhibition in Lefkara

The Purity exhibition at t.a.s.© gallery in Lefkara gathers 16 Cypriot artists from all corners of the island who respond to the theme, presenting a diverse range of artistic practices.

The opening event was held on 13 April in the presence of the artists and the curator Sofiia-Zlata Shestakovskaya and included a live performance entitled ‘Bud’ by participating artist Korallia Stergides.

Chef Ed Guk presented a food installation of exquisite canapés that play on the theme of purity and impurity, inviting visitors to further explore it through their senses.

Bringing together various artistic expressions, the selected artists participating in the exhibition explore the multifaceted theme of Purity through video installations, paintings, stone sculptures, threads of canvases and ceramics amongst other art forms.

Commenting on the theme of Purity, the curator says: “Purity is a concept belonging to the energetic, spiritual realm. It is something available to gods, deities, ideas and consciousness. The only opportunity humans have to experience purity is a momentary lapse of emotion that happens just before we start thinking and analyzing it. That moment we look at a work of art, before we are able to consciously analyze and deconstruct it – we experience a spark of a feeling. That’s pure, everything after that is tainted by opinion. Within the art world, there is a curiosity to inspect the purity of our ideas and intentions. Are ideas created by their manifestors making them pure, or are they swimming around in the pool of our shared consciousness, periodically darting at us, daring us to make them come true?”

Moreover, an important goal of the Purity exhibition is to bring the public closer to the contemporary art scene and make art accessible to all. As such, the curatorial team has prepared a guide to help those who feel alienated by the concept of contemporary art and bring them closer to the exhibited pieces and the artists themselves. The guide will be available at the exhibition for free for visitors to navigate their way through the showcase.

Meet the Artists

Vasileia Anaxagorou creates art in between reading, researching and writing in (and for) this burnout society. Her practice is deeply influenced by what keeps her up at night, and for that, she uses different media, such as painting, text-based work, drawing, photography, mixed media, and installation art mainly to express her unspoken thoughts.

Danae Patsalou is an emerging Cypriot visual artist and art educator involved in various art-based and co-creation workshops. She has been particularly interested in bi-communal activities and has participated in group exhibitions and performances in Cyprus, the UK and Italy. Her art practice focuses on ideas surrounding culture, memory and heritage in relation to landscape, presented through a combination of media, such as drawing, painting, and sculpture. In Purity, she will present a series of paintings that delicately explore the potential of close-up imagery to capture a sense of place, emotions, and feeling.

Lefki Savvidou is a Cypriot visual artist, writer and storyteller. She uses text as her main medium for her diverse work, which focuses on human relationships and life’s perceptions in the 21st century. Her piece 64! is a numeral artwork composed of 16 canvases which can be displayed on any of their four sides, and can be positioned in any of the 16 slots within the 4x4 grid. The artwork aims to explore the infinite variations and perspectives within the worlds we individually inhabit, emphasizing the absence of a singular reality.

Mariandrie is a visual artist who primarily works with textiles and installations. Her oeuvre navigates the complex terrain of sexual purity, exposing the historical and societal apparatuses designed to assert dominance over women’s bodies.

Christos Kyriakides is a visual artist, curator and poet whose practice concerns architectural interactions through vision and fiction, contested landscapes and iconography. His work embodies sexual and geopolitical intimacy which is further inflected by the idiosyncrasies of queer subjectivity.

The work of artist Elina Ioannou involves a wide range of media, including drawing, photography, sculpture and installations. Initially trained in Architecture and Design and then in Fine Arts, she followed in her father’s footsteps who is one of the last living stonemasons in Cyprus. Her work includes architectural details and stone sculptures made from calcarenite stone of Pachna formation which traces aspects of Cyprus’ identity.

Soteris Kallis is a self-taught multidisciplinary visual artist. His background experience in the field of Fashion design is evident in his particular drawing and painting practices which also comes through the colour palette he chooses to use. The themes he tends to delve into include human portraiture, sexual eroticism and esoteric propositions which have become part of his artistic identity.

Panayiotis Doukanaris’ work addresses the notion of collective and individual trauma and its relationship with identity, memory, and space. Doukanaris addresses these notions through a unique and meticulous process he gradually developed, where he removes threads from the canvas leaving behind intricate patterns and new dimensions.

Korallia Stergides is an interdisciplinary artist whose work explores the vital politics of care in an interdependent world. She works through various characters and choreographic inquiries that reimagine the intimacy of our interspecies relationships and home.

Nikolas Antoniou lives and works in Larnaca where he has an art studio. His artistic practice creatively explores the human form and the essence of human existence through abstract paintings, driven by a relentless pursuit of balance and meaning.

Cypriot multi-disciplinary artist Tugi approaches his artistic practice with intuition and through channelling. His artistic practice embodies symbolic meanings as he attempts to share both the beauty and the sharp edges of life’s emotions. Trusting the artistic process is a big part of his work which allows him to create freely.

Focusing on a diverse array of sculptural practices, most notably on ceramics and bio-design is Elina Hadjinicola. The Larnaca-based artist creates objects and abstract figures that touch on antiquity, functionality and nature. Her work greatly focuses on natural and ecological issues and through a focus on the intricate world of bees, she works closely with beeswax.

Contemporary visual artist Umay Yılmaz Kutay participates in Purity with a video installation and performance of her in deep sleep for 6 hours. She explores the feeling of surrendering as a vulnerable reality which translates into a pure act.

A greater focus on the process of creating art than the product itself is where the artistic ethos of Alev Adil lies. Her interdisciplinary practice travels from performance and philosophy to poetry, installation, video, collage, photography and painting, typically exploring the theme of memory. Adil’s work often incorporates her audience and through making, a collective experience of healing and sharing is created.

Also participating in the exhibition is artist Asli Bolayir who will present the painting ‘Kormakiti’ which explores the concept of purity through the metaphor of roads and the journey of life. Through the medium of painting, Bolayir emphasizes the importance of reflection and observation in understanding multifaceted themes such as purity, suggesting that it cannot be tied to specific locations.

Finally, Joanna Louca participates in the exhibition with a series of framed weaves. Louca has been working with textiles, weaving on domestic handlooms, and intertwining threads with fibres of diverse materials to weave fabric narratives. Weaving became her tool as an artist to capture an intuitive feeling, and to bring all her recollections of the outside world and translate them into woven mindscapes so she can connect herself away from the noise.

Location: t.a.s.© Contemporary Art Gallery, Timiou Stavrou 4, Pano Lefkara 7700

Exhibition opening: Saturday, 13 April, 3pm-7pm

Exhibition duration: 13 April – 13 July

Opening hours: Thursday-Sunday 1pm-8pm

Instagram: @t.a.s.xyz