Common Ground Exhibition

01 02-03 04-19 20-35 36-51 52-67 68-71

Thekla Papadopoulou Danae Patsalou Despina Petridou Ichomagnetic Thoughts

We carry art within us. But there are some people among us who have the special gift of capturing it on a piece of paper or on a canvas with a painting.

This exhibition is initiated by three Cypriot visual artists: Thekla Papadopoulou, Danae Patsalou and Despina Petridou. Their work in this exhibition is addressing the Cypriot landscape and the artists’ relation with the surroundings. Following each artist’s unique trajectory of a personalised research and exploration around landscaping, we have before us today a visualisation of the relation an artist has with nature.

As you browse through these pages, seek to find what unites the three artists: common ground. Common ground can be found in the way they collect memories, in the mode through which they experience nature and in the method they choose to present this experience through art. Common materials, colours and a common aura is what I invite you all to explore in this collection of artworks.

It is with great pleasure that I accepted the invitation to host this exhibition at the House of the Citizen, a building of unique historical and cultural value. As House of Representatives, we invested in this project with the goal to create a space for communication and exchange of ideas between the legislator and the citizen, in order to strengthen participatory democracy and promote the multifaceted culture and creativity of our country. The domestic interior and history of the House of the Citizen provides a sense of familiarity and intimacy to the viewers’ experience, as they navigate around the different rooms that make up this exhibition. The organic placement of the artworks took into consideration the specificities of the space, creating a natural, non-invasive visual narrative, unfolding from one room to another.

More importantly, through our support to this project we aim to highlight the talent of Cypriot women artists and provide a space for more artists to unfold and showcase their talent. I wish to Thekla, Danae and Despina all the best for this exhibition and for all their future plans.

Regards, Annita Demetriou President of the House of Representatives

Ioulita Toumazi

Art Theorist, Curator, Writer

In one of her films, Agnes Varda posited that “if we opened people up, we’d find landscapes. If we opened me up, we’d find beaches”. It intrigued me as a proposition. How can landscapes be conceived as the extension of one’s self? How is what we always think of as the “outside” turned into a metaphor for our “inside”? Like our intestines, landscapes are rendered internal, esoteric. And then one wonders, what would you find if you opened landscapes up? The very juxtaposition of landscapes and humans is flawed, in the same way the bounds of the ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ are questionable. But the question remains: what is a landscape and how does it affect people? Common Ground investigates those concepts and interrelations, while it is an ode to the Cypriot landscape, both natural and urban.

Growing up next to salt water, under the hot Mediterranean sun, surrounded by the geological confines of the sea, mountains and the man-made confines of buffer zones and borders, the three female artists embrace those landscapes. But landscapes are not just geological phenomena - they are also political, generated, shaped, imposed and contested entities, open to interpretations.

Despina conceives the landscape as the body of time, of history - a memoir of occurrences, preserved in ways history books fail to capture. Materiality becomes the space where memory is inscribed, and Despina seeks those traces of our personal and collective memories. Growing up in the partly occupied Ammochostos, a city that has imposed borders and forbidden territories, the landscapes that are visible to the eye, but unreachable to the touch provoke an existential angst. Despina deconstructs the landscape to the processes of its formation, its structures, materials, surfaces and

substances, which are then reconstituted in multi-layered compositions, which are shaped by her personal memories. The melanges of synthetic and organic materials, such as cement, silicone and wax create minimalist geometrical shapes and lines, mediating the relationship of the self and the natural and the urban landscape.

Thekla, embraces the seascapes surrounding her. In her work, the landscape is symbolically transformed into a mesmerising, liquid aura, which preserves the colours of the natural landscape, through dripping paints, varnish, glass paint and colour washes. Instinctively and meditatively, Thekla allows the substances to extend on different surfaces, and bloom into abstract shapes, that somehow still preserve the essence of the landscapes she is inspired and moulded by. The motion of the waves is revitalised on eery fabrics, extending that flow to the exhibition space, while the processes of natural phenomena are turned into an expressionist dance of colours and materials, fluid and open to interpretations and emotional reactions.

Danae’s work embraces both the sea and the mountains. Her paintings are an amalgamation of those landscapes, together with elements from urban society. While she preserves figurative elements from those landscapes, she partly surrenders to abstraction, creating eerie topographies that are both natural and sites of manifestation of culture and heritage. In Danae’s work, the Cypriot landscape is rendered symbolic to our “common ground” for both the Turkish speaking and Greek speaking communities of the island, where man-made borders are rendered insignificant compared to the grandeur and sublimity of our common landscape. Both the paintings, and the found

natural objects, like seashells she collects and places in the exhibition, are signifying a mutual linage and a transcending connection of the inhabitants of the island, since the land, soil and sea know no borders.

It is fascinating to think of Common Ground in the framework offered by W. J. T. Mitchell: “landscape is a natural scene mediated by culture. It is both represented and presented space, both a signifier and a signified, both a frame and what a frame contains, both a real place and its simulacrum, both a package and the commodity inside the package”. The artists investigate the above multiplicities and, both individually and collectively, create a multi-layered landscape comprised of other landscapes. The boundaries of the inside and outside blend, while the viewer becomes the final addition to the ever-changing history of that landscape. After all, it seems that if we opened landscapes up, we would find art.

Thekla Papadopoulou Danae Patsalou Despina Petridou

Common ground, 2022 230cm x 200cm x 30cm Mixed media installation

Thekla Papadopoulou

Artist Statement

Thekla Papadopoulou’s practice as a contemporary painter is centred around the essence of natural landscapes and phenomena, through an experiential and intuitive approach towards materials, surfaces and aesthetics. In an attempt to draw viewers within visual phenomena that reflect these notions, the artist is using abstract painting to depict fragments of an intimate and rather intriguing relationship with surrounding nature. Papadopoulou’s practice entails from a range of resources, in terms of concept, research and materiality, which are then harmoniously combined within striking and elaborate surfaces presented as aesthetic and conceptual objects for interpretation, part of a wider dialogue of personal expression.

Thekla Papadopoulou

Thekla Papadopoulou (b. 1978) is an established Cypriot contemporary artist based in Larnaca, Cyprus. Papadopoulou has presented five solo exhibitions in Cyprus and Greece, and has also participated in numerous group exhibitions internationally, including Paris, New York, London and others. In 1997 she graduated from the American Academy Larnaca and was admitted in the Academy of Fine Arts “Raffaello” of Urbino, Italy, where she followed a four-year program of study in Contemporary Art and Painting. She graduated in 2002 with distinction. She is also involved in art education as an art teacher at the American Academy Larnaca.

Stadiou Street 13, Larnaca, Cyprus, 6020 Phone Number: +357 99 617088 Email: papadopoulou.thekla@gmail.com Website: www.thekla-papadopoulou.com

Solo Exhibitions

2021 Ripple Effect at The O Gallery, Larnaca, Cyprus.

2019 Traces at Alpha CK Gallery, Nicosia, Cyprus.

2018 Traces at OTE Centre of the Arts, Thessaloniki, Greece. Curated by Giannis Argyriadis and Miguel Fernandez Belmonte.

2016 Fragments at Apocalypse Gallery, Nicosia, Cyprus. Curated by Margarita Kounnafi.

2013 Mindscapes at Kypriaki Gonia Gallery, Larnaca, Cyprus.

Selected Group Exhibitions

2022 Common Ground at The House of the Citizen, Nicosia, Cyprus. Organised by the House of Representatives, Republic of Cyprus. Three-person exhibition.

2022 Island at Almyra Hotel, Paphos, Cyprus. Curated by Andros Efstathiou. Organised by Isnotgallery.

2022 Her Garden at Municipal Art Gallery of Thessaloniki, Yeni Tzami, Thessaloniki, Greece. Four-person exhibition

2019 Group Exhibition at Maison de la Grece, Paris, France

2019 Female Pros at Municipal Arts Centre Leonidas. Canellopoulos, Elefsina, Greece. Four-person exhibition.

2019 Perceptions of Self(ie) at Mosesian Centre of the Arts, Boston, USA.

2019 Artifacts 2019 at One Art Space Gallery, New York, USA.

2018 International Figurative Biennale at John Natsoulas Gallery, California, USA.

2018 The Sea Within at Limassol Municipal Art Centre, Limassol, Cyprus.

2018 Fine Art at Dalton Gallery of Agnes Scott College, Georgia, USA.

2017 Sending/ Receiving at General Consulate of Cyprus, New York, USA. Three-person exhibition.

2016 Paradise at SKOUFA Gallery, Mykonos, Greece.

2016 To Sum Degree at The HUD Gallery, Ventura, CA, USA.

2016 Art Takes Manhattan - Extended Consciousness at Caelum Gallery, New York, USA. International Juried Competition and Exhibition.

2015 Donkey Art Prize 3 at Galley 76, 3331 Chiyoda Art Centre, inside the Dubai International Art Center, Dubai, U.A.E. (catalogue). International Juried Competition and Exhibition.

2014 Contemporary Painting at The Brick Lane Gallery, London, UK. International Juried Exhibition.

2012 Europe-Larnaca at Municipal Art Gallery, Larnaca, Cyprus (catalogue).

2012 Witnesses at Kypriaki Gonia Gallery, Larnaca, Cyprus. Four-person exhibition.

2005 Mode of Expression at Iliotropio Gallery, Larnaca, Cyprus (catalogue).

2004 Equilibrio at Atelier di Pittura, Larnaca, Cyprus.

Art Competitions - Publications

2022 Greek Contemporary Artists - published January 2022, Athens, Greece. ISBN 139789608411593

2021 2nd and 3rd Prize - Art competition for the selection of artworks for the enrichment of Ammochostos Courthouse, Paralimni, Cyprus. Collaborator: Despina Petridou.

2021 1st Prize - Art competition for the selection of artworks for the enrichment of the 2nd Nursery School, Dherynia, Ammochostos, Cyprus. Collaborator: Despina Petridou.

2020 1st Prize - Art competition for the selection of artworks for the enrichment of the Nursery School, Aradippou, Cyprus. Collaborator: Constantina Charalambous.

2019 Apero catalogue, March issue, title “Contrast”. Winner First Place Cover Artist - Thekla Papadopoulou + Curator’s review + Cash Prize.

2018 Thekla Papadopoulou interview, Art Reveal Magazine no. 44, December 2018, pages: 78- 83, ISBN 9780368032226 https://www.artrevealmagazine.com/44th-issue/

2017 The Painting “Fragments C’II” was selected, after an international competition, to be published in Circle Quarterly Magazine among other 49 upcoming artists to collect.

Art Education

2005-Present Art Teacher at American Academy Larnaca

2003-2005 Art Teacher at Alexander College Larnaca

Membership in Professional Organisations

EKATE The Cyprus Chamber of Fine Arts. EKATE is a member of the International Association of Art (IAA) and represents IAA in Cyprus.

Part of “Groundwork” installation, 2022 Fabric, plaster, ink

Ripple V, 2022 35x35cm Mixed media

Ripple XII, 2022 35cm x 35cm Mixed media

Beam of Light, 2022

100cm x 70cm Mixed media

Ripple VI, 2022

35cm x 35cm Mixed media

Ripple VII, 2022 35cm x 35cm Mixed media

Danae Patsalou

Artist Statement

Patsalou’s art practice focuses on ideas surrounding culture and heritage in relation to landscape, presented through a combination of media, such as drawing, painting and sculpture. Through her work, Patsalou blurs the lines between abstraction and realism in landscape painting, enabling the viewer to experience their surroundings through different perspectives. Characterised by sensitivity, intimacy and delicacy, her artworks present a personal exploration on the relationship between the artist and her environment, exploring the role of heritage, culture and memory. Lastly, the artist aims to create conversations through her practice regarding the bi-communal aspect of the Cypriot society, which is often hidden within customary and everyday living.

Danae Patsalou

Danae Patsalou (b. 1999) is an emerging Cypriot visual artist based in Larnaca, Cyprus, with a BA degree in Fine Arts from Falmouth University (Falmouth School of Art) and an MA in Arts and Cultural Management from King’s College London. Patsalou is also an art educator involved in various art-based and co-creation workshops. The artist has been particularly interested in bi-communal activities. She is a member of the BNCY (Bicommunal Network CYP Youth), which aims to bring all Cypriot students and youth together by embracing their shared social/cultural activities. Lastly, Patsalou has participated in group exhibitions and performances both in Cyprus and the UK.

Ithakis 5, Aradippou, Larnaca, Cyprus, 7102 Phone Number: +357 96 106255 Email: danaipatsalou@gmail.com Website: www.danaepatsalou.com

2022 Common Ground at The House of the Citizen, Nicosia, Cyprus. Organised by the House of Representatives, Republic of Cyprus. Three-person exhibition.

2022 Πλούσια Τέχνη σε Δύσκολους Καιρούς at Isnotgallery, Nicosia, Cyprus. Curated by Andros Efstathiou.

2022 In Support of Lifae at EAC (Electricity Authority of Cyprus) Headquarters, Nicosia, Cyprus. Organised by the Rotary Club Nicosia-Lefkothea and the Cypriot Chamber of Fine Arts (EKATE).

2021 Limitless Limits at Larnaca Biennale, Mattei House - Multispace of Creativity and Culture, Larnaca, Cyprus. Curated by Vassilis Vassiliades.

2021 Absolut Dare at The Collection Gallery, Nicosia, Cyprus.

2020 Showcase at The O Gallery, Larnaca, Cyprus.

2020 The Art of Collaboration at Pierides Museum, Larnaca, Cyprus.

2019 From Where I Stand at Tate St. Ives, St. Ives, UK. Ustudio Event group performance piece. Curated by Alice Ellis.

2019 Roots at Tate St. Ives, St. Ives, UK. Ustudio Event solo performance piece.

2018 Outside In at The Poly, Falmouth, UK.

2019 Natural Perspective, Livia Gravil, Catherine Horton, Helena Clarke at Woodlane Windows, Falmouth, UK.

Selected Group Exhibitions Curation Awards

2021 1st Prize - for the philanthropic exhibition ‘’Absolut Dare’’ at The Collection Gallery, Nicosia, Cyprus.

The world forgetting by the world forgot, 2022 150cm x 120cm Oil on canvas

Mountains, 2022

70cm x 24cm Oil on canvas

Fields, 2022 28cm x 19cm Oil on canvas paper

Home, 2022 30cm x 12cm Oil on canvas paper

Close to Home, 2022 28cm x 21cm Oil on canvas paper

Unknown Acquainted Home, 2022

150cm x 110cm Oil on canvas

Morning Hour, 2022 28cm x 21cm Oil on canvas paper

Despina Petridou

Artist Statement

Petridou’s art practice embodies an exploration of the history of the self through the spectrum of materiality, presenting sculptural artworks that manifest qualities, processes and rituals that make up this history. Her work is informed by site-specific personal memories, experiences and narratives, reflecting her background, as a woman growing up in Cyprus and more specifically in the Ammochostos region. Considering the materiality, formation and structures found within natural and urban landscapes, Petridou’s artworks aim to create tangible embodiments of memories based on the specificities of surfaces, textures and materials, characterised by their conflicting yet harmonious co-existence.

Despina Petridou

Despina Petridou (b. 1995) is an emerging visual artist, curator and art educator, currently based in Dherynia, Ammochostos, Cyprus. Petridou presented her first solo exhibition in 2021 in Cyprus, she has participated in various group art exhibitions both in Cyprus and abroad, and has undertaken curatorial projects in Cyprus and Scotland. She has completed an MScR Collections and Curating Practices degree and an MAFA Fine Art degree, from The University of Edinburgh (Edinburgh College of Art) in Scotland. Petridou is currently involved in art education as an art teacher at Xenion High School, Paralimni, Cyprus.

2, Eleftherias Street, 5380, Dherynia, Ammochostos, Cyprus

Phone Number: +357 96 502390 Email: despinapetridou@hotmail.com Website: www.despinapetridou.com

Solo Exhibitions

2021 Camouflage at The O Gallery, Larnaca, Cyprus.

Selected Group Exhibitions

2022 Common Ground at The House of the Citizen, Nicosia, Cyprus. Organised by the House of Representatives, Republic of Cyprus. Three-person exhibition.

2022 Every Food is a Landscape at Polo del ‘900, Turin, Italy. Curated by Marco Trulli. Organised by BJCEM and Food Wave.

2022 ReA! Art Fair at Fabbrica del Vapore, Milan, Italy.

2022 Island at Almyra Hotel, Paphos, Cyprus. Curated by Andros Efstathiou. Organised by Isnotgallery.

2021 Seeking Roots at NiMAC (Nicosia Municipal Arts Center), Nicosia, Cyprus. Curated by Ioulita Toumazi.

2020 Opening Exhibition at The O Gallery, Larnaca, Cyprus.

2019 Synergic at Ovalo Galleria de Arte, Mexico City, Mexico. In collaboration with Art Number 23 Gallery, London, UK.

2019 Museum Artifacts & Art in Conversation /Mουσειακά Εκθέματα & Τέχνη σε Διάλογο at Kallinikeio Museum, Athienou, Larnaca, Cyprus.

2018 Odysseys at Upper Church, Symmerhall, Edinburgh, UK. Organised by Syn Festival Edinburgh.

Curation

2021 Ripple Effect, Thekla Papadopoulou at The O Gallery, Larnaca, Cyprus.

2020 Situated: Place Art Collection at Travelling Gallery, Edinburgh, UK. Featuring artworks from the University of Edinburgh’s Art Collection.

Art Competitions

2021 2nd and 3rd Prize - Art competition for the selection of artworks for the enrichment of Ammochostos Courthouse, Paralimni, Αmmochostos, Cyprus. Collaborator: Thekla Papadopoulou.

2021 1st Prize - Art competition for the selection of artworks for the enrichment of the 2nd Nursery School, Dherynia, Ammochostos, Cyprus. Collaborator: Thekla Papadopoulou.

Art Education

2021-Present Art Teacher at Xenion High School, Paralimni, Ammochostos, Cyprus.

2020-2021 Art Director at Heliopolis Youth Culture, Paralimni, Ammochostos, Cyprus.

Despina Petridou

Earthy, 2020

30cm x 40cm x 4cm Silicone, gravel, metal, copper wire

Imprint I, 2022

30cm x 30cm x 2cm White cement

Imprint VI, 2022

30cm x 30cm x 2cm White cement, wax, powder pigment

Clay drawing, 2022

30cm x 15cm x 2cm Air-drying clay, corn starch

Imprint II, 2022

30cm x 30cm x 2cm White cement

Deep Relief III, 2022

160cm x 30cm x40 cm White cement, wax, powder pigment, metal

Imprint IV, 2022

30cm x 30cm x 2cm

White cement, powder pigment

Imprint V, 2022

30cm x 30cm x 2cm

White cement, wax, powder pigment

Deep Relief I, 2022

160cm x 30cm x 40cm

White cement, wax, powder pigment, metal

Deep Relief II, 2022

160cm x 30cm x 40cm

White cement, wax, powder pigment, metal

Untitled, 2022

25cm x 30cm x 30cm White cement, wax, foam board

Cement drawing, 2022

17 x 12 x 1.5 cm

White cement, powder pigment

The Negatives, 2022

160cm x 100cm x 1cm White cement, powder pigment

Ichomagnetic Thoughts

Fractal terrain, 2022 Sound composition approx.18’

Fractal terrain is a sound experience that lulls the listener into a stasis, before reminding them the fragility of nature. The sonic landscapes create natural patterns in correlation with the video artwork’s natural patterns unfolding diverse sonic experiences.

Ichomagnetic Thoughts is a duo by Antonia Kattou and Stelios Antoniou. By having a common background in music production, sound design, percussion and drums, contemporary classical music, ethnomusicology, electronics, storytelling and improvisation, they come together to explore sonic interactions beyond the three dimensional world. Their craft encompasses with electroacoustic composition and ambient soundscapes, free improvisation and interactive performances through raw sounds from found objects, field recordings, electronics, synthesisers and percussion. By performing music, they reveal a transdisciplinary space for composing and improvising, while simultaneously experimenting with the fragility of sounds, the silence and the ambience, and thus resulting into conceptual and music interactions.