“Unearthing My Past”
15 - 29 October 2021
Athena Ierodiaconou van Dongen is a Cypriot ceramicist and expressive artist. Born in Nicosia in 1959, she is a graduate of The English School Nicosia (class of 1977), University of Leeds (1980), and the University of Sussex (1982). She has lived in a variety of countries including periods in Cyprus with which she has maintained close ties and a personal political engagement.
Her “Unearthing My Past” project, a multi-genre installation featuring ceramics, text, sketches and designs, is an exploration of the artist’s individual identity, and Cypriot identity more generally, via the prism of her own life experiences and the backdrop of Cypriot political events in her lifetime. The installation will run in parallel with workshops (Unearthing) for pupils from schools across all of Cyprus, representing a cross-section of backgrounds.
The aim of the project is dual: to explore the artist’s own emotional and cultural roots, and by identifying the common elements of a Cypriot identity, create a bridge across the ethnic divides which have played such a pernicious role in the modern history of Cyprus.
This exhibition is made possible with the support of Active Citizens Fund.
