Under the Hupa

This is one print from a folio of twenty nine prints executed in the German expressionist style. They were created in 1949 by Jewish internees at the Caraolos deportation camp in Famagusta. Over fifty thousand Jews on their way to Israel were kept for some time in Cyprus by the British authorities between 1946-1949. Despite their meager means, each one of twenty six internees printed one representation of their lives within the camp. All representations were circulated in twenty six copies, one for each of the artists. A scene that encompasses multiple aspects of everyday life has a Jewish wedding ceremony at its focal point. The mundane activities of people working and sitting round a pile of rubbish in the background, marks a contrast to the sacrality of a religious ritual at the foreground. The juxtaposition of the sacred to the profane signals the rather unique and extraordinary circumstances in which people’s lives developed. The barbed wire, the guard tower and the nissan huts add a melancholic touch to the atmosphere which lacks the gaiety usually associated with weddings. And yet, despite the unsuitability of a space in which routine practices develop, the internees’ determination to simulate the correct conditions materializes in the creation of a hupa. Artistically, the white colour illuminates the ceremonial space in contrast to the rest which lies in the dark.