. More information on www.manifestmed
PRESS RELEASE - FOR IMMEDIATE PUBLICATION Produced by: Manifest Media – www.manifestmedia.de
AUDIO-VISUAL EXHIBITION
‘Island in the Sun’ The audio-visual installation by Maren Wickwire and Melissa Hekkers attempts to mediate the fragmented life experiences of migrants, thus propagating new interpretations and perspectives on the global movement of people through the lens of Cyprus. Hosted within the Buffer Fringe Performing Arts Festival 2016 and in partnership with the Goethe-Institut Zypern and KISA, ‘Island in the Sun’ consists of a collection of stories, experiences and reflections from within the migratory communities on the island of Cyprus that embodies imprints of memories, thoughts, conversations and questions in a life of diaspora. Despite restrictive asylum and integration policies, maltreatment and deportation, Cyprus remains for many individuals the first stepping-stone to reach European soil. This journey is a play with fate. Whilst separated from family members, the desire for freedom, safety, and self-determination proves resilient. Overcoming barriers through the connectedness of social media and mobile technology, the imagination of future possibilities seen and unseen is without end. Using photography, text, video, paper documentation and oral history, the installation navigates the viewer through the accounts of individuals, overlapping visual and textual layers in order to enable audiences to contemplate divers interpretations of space, time, identity and law within the local experience of Cyprus.
Exhibition opening: 10 November 2016, 6pm Location: Goethe-Institute Zypern Duration: 18 November 2016 Supported by: Caritas Cyprus-Κοινωνία and the St.Joseph Social Centre in Nicosia. Opening Hours: Monday to Saturday 10:00-14.00 and 15:00 – 17:30. The exhibition is open to the public and entrance free. Suitable for all ages. Contact details: (Melissa Hekkers) +357 99 803832 or email
[email protected] More information on www.manifestmedia.de
PHOTO MATERIAL FOR PUBLISHING: Please use the following captions for photographs attached. All photos are copyrighted @MarenWickwire.
Photo 1: As part of a larger community of domestic workers in Cyprus, Filipinas are coming together on Sunday’s to hold their all-day volleyball tournament in Nicosia. This weekly event enriches the lives of the women, who find reward in returning to their familiar recreational activities in a new cultural setting and enhancing their lives outside the mundane work routines.
Photo 2: Domestic workers from different countries find shelter at the St.Joseph Social Center for women in the old town of Nicosia. Escaping difficult work situations, the women can stay until visas and employment contracts are sorted out. The three nuns, who are running the shelter, patiently guide the transient residents how try to cope with difficult life circumstances far away from their families and support networks.
Photo 3: Birds flying over Cyprus. Cyprus in the eastern Mediterranean with Turkey to the north, Syria to the east and Egypt to the south, places it on one of the major migration routes in the Mediterranean and makes it attractive destination for many birds and other species which pass each year from Europe or Asia to Africa via the Nile Delta.
Photo 4: Maja’s father was against the idea of his daughter going abroad to seek employment. Growing up as a single child to farmers in rural Vietnam, Maja finished her college degree and moved to the capital city. Disappointed that she couldn’t find any employment in her field of sales and marketing. Her family and other friends in the village took up loans, so she could pay the total fee of $6800 necessary for the work visa to come to Cyprus through an employment agency. Once matched with an employer, she was promised a work place in a restaurant, which turned out to be a lie – she was forced to work in a cabaret at night until she escaped.
Biographies of artistic directors: Maren Wickwire Based in Berlin and Chicago, Maren’s award winning multimedia work has been screened globally, exploring social and cultural phenomenona in multilayered visual installations to raise awareness about marginalization, social injustice, and human rights violations. As a director, editor and cinematographer, she has been collaborating with international recognized organizations including the United Nations Humanitarian Coalition (UNHCR), Harvard Humanitarian Initiative, the US Institute of Peace, Art Works Projects and Eastern Congo Initiative. Wickwire’s work over the past years has been focused on alternative narratives, including topics such as peacemaking, resettlement and resilience and agency of migrant and refugee communities in the US and Europe. She aspires to work in a collaborative and way, seeking close collaboration with the subjects of the images and stories published. She holds a BA in communications design from the Folkwang University of the Arts and is a graduate candidate of the MA program in Visual Media Anthropology from the Freie University Berlin. Melissa Hekkers Melissa Hekkers was born in Belgium, and since 2004, she has been living and working in Cyprus. Melissa is a freelance journalist, columnist and features writer. Her work appears in local Newspapers and magazines (in both Greek and English) as well as alternating media portals. Her written work focuses mainly on the arts and culture as well as human interest stories and corresponds with local papers when travelling. She has published three children’s book, her second one having been awarded the State Illustration Award in 2007 as well as a poetry book. Since 2004, Melissa has been following the refugee crisis closely, both on a professional and personal level, and in November 2015, she spent some time volunteering and getting a firsthand experience on the crisis in Lesvos, Greece. As a result, Melissa has been reporting on the refugee crisis, both through her personal experience and through following the crisis’ development for the Cyprus Weekly. In May 2015, she was invited to talk on the matter at TEDx Nicosia. Currently, she participates actively at Cyprus’ only refugee camp as a volunteer and researcher and continues to be heavily involved in the refugee crisis, both as a writer aiming to bring awareness to the matter, but also as an independent volunteer. She holds a diploma in Communications from the University of Nicosia. Exhibition opening: 10 November 2016, 6pm Location: Goethe-Institute Zypern Duration: 18 November 2016 Supported by: Caritas Cyprus-Κοινωνία and the Migrant Centre in Nicosia. Opening Hours: Monday to Saturday 10:00-14.00 and 15:00 – 17:30. The exhibition is open to the public and entrance free. Suitable for all ages. More information on www.manifestmedia.de
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