Host of exhibitions coming up in May

New art showcases are surfacing all around the country this May as creatives put together solo and group exhibitions. Before festivals and summer concerts take over, spring is the time when art galleries, institutions and museums thrive and welcome artists and art enthusiasts alike. Here are five exhibitions that open this month.

The Broken Pitcher

The Broken Pitcher is a project conceived and organised by Natascha Sadr Haghighian, Marina Christodoulidou and Peter Eramian which includes an exhibition at Thkio Ppalies in Nicosia and a series of public film screenings across Cyprus before it travels to Beirut. The project’s next presentation, the Broken Pitcher exhibition will open at Thkio Ppalies on Friday and will include a live performance by Panagiotis Minas.

The concept of The Broken Pitcher circles around the foreclosure of a family house and the negotiation that bank employees have with the family. A short video re-enacts the scenario touching on the events that occurred after the agreement between Cyprus and the troika after the financial crisis. The exhibition displays the film set in-situ and was shaped collaboratively with artists and artisans mostly based in Cyprus after a workshop at Thkio Ppallies.

The film will next be shown at the parking behind Rialto Theatre on May 14, 8pm, in Androlykou, Paphos on May 15, 6.30pm, Pavlos Liasides park in Larnaca on May 20, 8pm and finally at Thkio Ppalies on May 27, 8pm.

The Broken Pitcher

Exhibition duration: May 6-27. Thkio Ppalies, Nicosia. Wednesday-Friday: 5pm-8pm. www.thkioppalies.org. Facebook event: The Broken Pitcher

Life Drawing

Diatopos Contemporary Art Centre hosts Andreana Kampanella’s new art exhibit that opens on Friday. Titled Life Drawing and curated by Daphne Nikita, the exhibition consists of works drawn entirely from real life – not by imagination or memory.

“In the digital age,” said the artist, “with its rapid alternation of situations, the flashy aesthetics of Instagram and selfies, I wanted to approach the unpretentious human condition in my works”.

Life Drawing

May 6-27. Diatopos Contemporary Art Centre, Nicosia. Tuesday-Friday: 5pm-8pm. Saturday:11am-1pm. Facebook event: Life Drawing

Suitcases

In Larnaca, the O Gallery presents the third solo exhibition of artist Ioanna Kythreotou with her new series of works titled Suitcases, opening on Friday. The exhibition consists of a series of works of art that serve as a continuation of a wider, ongoing work, that focuses on the exploration of the essence and quality of memories. Specifically, memories caused by life-changing events that tend to alter daily life and routine. Until the end of May, art lovers will be able to check out Kyhreotou’s work, prominently being mixed media on canvas featuring bright colours, lines and landscapes.

Suitcases

May 6-27. The O Gallery, Larnaca. Opening night 7pm. Monday-Saturday: 10am-1pm and 4pm-7pm. Sunday: 3pm-7pm. Facebook event: Ioanna Kythreotou | SUITCASES | Solo Exhibition

In Focus

Also opening in Nicosia this week and on until May 31, is an exhibition of paintings and drawings by Paskalis Anastasi. As an observer, Paskalis typically depicts people and places of his surroundings and seeks to explore colour, movement and personality of the subjects. The spontaneity and vivacity of this painting technique and the devotion to the close observation of nature and people have been the focus of his art.

His latest exhibition is hosted at Diachroniki Gallery in the old town, and its main part focuses on the importance of the individual in a crowded world. Through the displayed artwork, the artist emphasises the essence of being human in a fast-moving, ever-changing world, where one feels deprived of any identity.

In Focus

May 6-31. Diachorniki Gallery, Nicosia. opening night: 7.30pm. Daily: 10am-7pm. Tel: 22-680145

Yuendumu Doors

Bringing cultural history from a land far away is an upcoming exhibition organised by the Australian High Commission. From May 13 to 28, CVAR Severis Foundation will host a showcase on the world-renowned Yuendumu Doors, one of the most important cultural and artistic collections in Australia. Painted more than 30 years ago in a remote desert school by artists steeped in traditional knowledge, the Doors survived against the odds and have now been conserved for display at the South Australian Museum.

Yuendumu is a small town in central Australia, with its community largely made up of the Warlpiri and Anmatyerr Aboriginal people. The Yuendumu Doors were painted in 1984 by a group of senior Warlpiri men. The community elders were worried that their children were not engaging fully with the new education system, and were not learning the lessons they would need to prepare them for a changing Australia.

They decided to wrap the school in the Warlpiri education system, the Jukurrpa, by painting stories on its doors. In 1995 the South Australian Museum undertook the doors to preserve them and to exhibit them within and beyond its grounds. Now, a taste of them is coming to Nicosia.

Yuendumu Doors

May 13-28. CVAR Severis Foundation, Nicosia. Tuesday – Sunday: 9.30pm-5pm. Tel: 22-300994. Facebook event: Yuendumu DoorsExhibition presented by the Australia High Commission