Trauma responses inform processes of labor – a practice which is passed down through generations. Actions of labor, being related both to muscle memory and physiological memory, is a practice done without much consideration. It is a part of daily life, of course varying from person to person, family to family, and geological region to geological region. 

The act of using one’s body in a physical space, especially to build a physical place combined with the idea of intergenerational relationship to material is what I am most concerned with.  

The tool dictates the movement. The material itself holding generational memory.

In the location of Nicosia, a culturally layered city, these practices differ from one another. However materials available and needs of people remain similar. 

Architectural spaces invite, or rather suggest people to perform certain actions. Furniture and objects of design the same.

Communal spaces prompt connection and communal activities, conversations, collaborations. 

By engaging the body in the construction of even the most rudimentary communal spaces, the mind and body work in tandem, drawing from past memory 

Through this shared physical act, built environments become physical records of shared labor, grounding generational memory into the earth of the collective landscape. 

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Working with local workshops to fabricate these pieces bridges the material production of the exhibition with the living community of Nicosia. Through the exchange of technical knowledge and regional stories, this collaborative fabrication expands the cycle of shared labor—transforming the objects into physical records of contemporary connection and dialogue.

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Part of the first edition of Elo's Ary House Residency. In collaboration with Turkish-Cypriot artist Elin Yurtdas. 

 

Acknowledgements: 

 

Curators: Sarvenaaz Ghafari and Eloise

Rojas 

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Accompanying Music: Taylan Unal ​

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Steel Work Shop Nicosia

Thinker Maker Space at Cyens Centre of Excellence