The biggest collection of indigenous Australian art ever in Cyprus

Something for art lovers, history enthusiasts, culture connoisseurs and everyone in between will soon arrive in the capital as a new exhibition opens its doors bringing insights from the past and from far, far away.

A large collection of indigenous Australian art, showcasing almost 70 pieces, will open in Nicosia towards the end of January. Art Association Cathrine will present the exhibition From a Continent to an Island under the auspices of the Australian High Commission. Apart from showcasing unique and significant art pieces, the exhibition also forms part of the 50th anniversary of Australia-Cyprus diplomatic relations.

Running from January 21 to February 18 at the Centre for Visual Arts & Research (CVAR), the exhibition will include paintings on bark from the important Aben Collection. The works are the creations of Australian indigenous people from Arnhem Land and allow visitors to engage with their art and their universe, interspersed with mythology and Gods-Ancestors.

Talking about the importance of such an exhibition, which is a first for Cyprus, the organisers explain a bit more about the uniqueness of the pieces: “Painting on bark is used by the indigenous people as a means of perpetuating the founding myths of their culture, as each clan and each family from Arnhem Land carries the responsibility of passing on the founding myths to the next generation. In the paintings of the Aben collection, we see Gods-Ancestors and stories from the Dreamstime – the time when the Gods-Ancestors came to Earth and shaped it before bequeathing it to humans.

“However,” they add, “as indigenous people have a simultaneous responsibility to protect their culture from the ‘uninitiated’, their art is not made for every eye. As the curator of the exhibition points out, much of what we see in the exhibition may appear decorative to our ‘uninitiated’ eyes. Nevertheless, the exhibition offers us the rare opportunity to become familiar with the universe of the indigenous people of Arnhem Land and perhaps to ‘initiate’, to some extent, into it.”

From a Continent to an Island

Exhibition with a collection of indigenous Australian art. Organised by the Australian High Commission. January 21-February 18. CVAR – Severis Foundation, Nicosia. Tuesday – Saturday: 9.30am – 5pm. www.cvar.severis.org. Tel: 22-300994