Sculptors: Maro Bartzili & Thymios Panourias
Location: Deryneia municipality Park, Heroes Street. Ammochostos district.
Material: Brass
Dimension: 2.30 meters in length
Category: Turkish Invasion
Photography: Adrienne Christiansen & Evangelia Matthopoulou
On September 30th 1999 Deryneia Municipality decided to run an art competition with a view to create a memorial to Deryneia dead and missing. According to the call: “The artwork should visualize the heroic concepts and the sacrifice of the dead. At the same time it should remind us of the missing and underline the hope of their return”.
The artists Maro Bartzili and Thymios Panourias won the competition describing their proposal as follows:
“On the left-hand side of the composition there is a hint to our longstanding culture and a wailing for its constant mutilation and desecration. The ‘falling dead’ […] is framed by the missing in low relief. They experience the tragedy of this land, wailing and awaiting a solution. The dead man’s extended left hand is pointing to Ammochostos. He calls us to continue our claim for a free land. He asks the return of the towns where we grew and the relegation of our personal and historical puzzle. On the back side of the brass wall a tree is growing. It is the “do not forget” tree with its deep roots. It is the tree of human rights, self-determination and cultural growth”.
The selection panel called a gathering of all Deryneia citizens in May 2000 in order to present all the submitted artistic proposals, along with the winning one.
In October 2000, as is apparent from the correspondence between the two artists and the Municipality’s selection panel, there were differing views on the aesthetic formation of the monument’s concepts. These differences were ignited when members of the panel visited the artists’ workshop to supervise the development of the work.
The comments, on behalf of the panel members, focused on the lack of the necessary feeling of sadness the end result should exude. They underlined the lack of emotion of the standing woman towards the seated female headless figure, the personification of Greek culture. Attention was stressed on the features of all figures which should preserve a distinct level of abstractness in their depiction. The relationship between the falling man and the low relief figures of the missing behind him was another point that caused skepticism: their form had to permit the bridging of past and future, maintaining a symbolic link between the missing and the main male figure. For the same reasons the tree at the rear of the monument had to spread all over the wall’s surface.
The final version of the monument met midway the Municipality’s selection panel requirements and the artistic views. The unveiling took place on July 22nd 2001, symbolically coinciding with the commemoration of the Turkish invasion.
Selected sources:
~ Φιλελεύθερος (Fileleftheros), April 29, 2000, p. 4.
~ Φιλελεύθερος (Fileleftheros), June 2, 2001, p. 22.
~ Κρατικό Αρχείο Κύπρου, Αρχείο Πολιτιστικών Υπηρεσιών Υπουργείου Παιδείας & Πολιτισμού (State Archive of Cyprus): 268/1968/17, Meeting Minutes June 11, 1998.
~ Κρατικό Αρχείο Κύπρου, Αρχείο Πολιτιστικών Υπηρεσιών Υπουργείου Παιδείας & Πολιτισμού (State Archive of Cyprus): 268/1968/18.
~ Κρατικό Αρχείο Κύπρου, Αρχείο Πολιτιστικών Υπηρεσιών Υπουργείου Παιδείας & Πολιτισμού (State Archive of Cyprus): 268/1968/19, Meetings Minutes September 30, 1999; October 12, 1999.
~ Κρατικό Αρχείο Κύπρου, Αρχείο Πολιτιστικών Υπηρεσιών Υπουργείου Παιδείας & Πολιτισμού (State Archive of Cyprus): 268/1968/21.
~ Κρατικό Αρχείο Κύπρου, Αρχείο Πολιτιστικών Υπηρεσιών Υπουργείου Παιδείας & Πολιτισμού (State Archive of Cyprus): 268/1968/22, Meetings Minutes October 30, 2000; January 18, 2001.
~ Αρχείο Συμβουλευτικής Επιτροπής Μνημείων Υπουργείου Παιδείας & Πολιτισμού (Advisory Monuments’ Committee) 14.3.01/5, document May 24, 2001.
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