National Costume (Miss Universe 2006)

Talking about fashion and folklore, this is the most outrageous deviation…

(Un)fashion Talk(ing)

[...] “The Greek portion of the community in the large towns, who consider it the “thing” to copy European dress, generally forsake the picturesque native costume for Whitechapel slops, and their women-folk look perfect frights in awful native versions of Paris fashions of ten or fifteen years ago; though I am glad to say that this craze for aping European customs and manners is at present confined to the larger coast towns, and there only among a certain class, middlemen and shopkeepers, and in the more remote villages in the interior of the island the natives are unspoilt and hardly changed from their earlier ancestors in their mode of living.” [...] Basil Stewart (a traveler in Cyprus between 1905 and 1906).

Stewart Basil, "My Expeditions to the Island of Cyprus", London, 1908 (published in “The Island of Cyprus: A Photographic Itinerary from the 19th to the 20th Century, Luicie Bonato, Haris Yakoumis and Kadir Kaba, Publications En Tipis, 2007)

Yesterday (Waiting and not getting what we already don’t want)

"Eshekistan"

[…] When the Turkish Cypriot policeman at the Ledra Palace Checkpoint looked up from his booth into the large sad eyes and long ears of a passport-bearing donkey demanding to cross, he was not caught by surprise. He was required to check one unusually furry visitor from the south with a fake passport. Under the name it wrote “Mr Cyprus” and under occupation “porter”. This was part of the stunt-protest demanding free movement and the lifting of all crossing restrictions by both sides, organized by bi-communal groups. The protesters held banners writing “We Demand Freedom of Movement of the Donkeys of Cyprus”. A Turkish Cypriot donkey was to cross the other way but it failed to appear. Event took an unexpected turn when the Turkish Cypriot authorities allowed the Greek Cypriot old man leading the Greek Cypriot donkey to proceed. The Greek Cypriot donkey stood in front of the police booth. The Turkish Cypriot policeman examined its passport. He looked at the photo and then back at the donkey. Even though the photo did not match, and the passport identified donkey as male while it was in fact a female – and pregnant as it embarrassingly transpired – it was ushered through without further formalities. Lurking Turkish Cypriot plain-clothed policemen grabbed the old man with his donkey and pushed them to an unmarked police car. They arrested them along with other Greek Cypriot and a Turkish Cypriot. The donkey initially walked unperturbed in front of the car, until another policemen took over and led it to the police station.

Wild speculation ensued. Would the Greek Cypriot donkey also appear in court? Under what charged? Were they going to photograph the donkey in the standard convict photo, profile with a hanging number? How about fingerprints? In fact, the donkey was not taken to court the next afternoon, only the three men who were released on bail after being charged for disrespect towards the Turkish Cypriot state and for causing a disturbance.

Political donkey-posters had a long history in this island that was once renowned for its donkeys, when they were a rare and valuable asset, until they were replaced by pick-up trucks. In the late 1950s, the British governor of Cyprus issued an ultimatum for EOKA fighters to surrender. A donkey displaying “I surrender” was left to roam the streets, until it was taken in by the British police. The recent protest played upon a long discussion on the Turkish Cypriot side sparked by a statement from the Turkish Cypriot leader, Denktash. He said that there was no Cypriot nation and the only true Cypriots were the Cypriot donkeys. Denktash explained that there were no Cypriots, only Greek and Turks in Cyprus. The left-wing Turkish Cypriot opposition immediately reacted with headlines like “of course, we are donkeys, otherwise how could we bear the heavy burden of our leadership”, or suggesting Cyprus should be called Eshekistan (“Donkeystan”). […]

Extract from the last chapter of the book Echoes from the dead zone
by Yiannis Papadakis, Ed. I.B. Tauris, London, 2005

“View of Cyprus: A photographic Itinerary from the 19th to the 20th Century”

This is a photo of the first photo ever taken of Cyprus. Just discovered by the collector Haris Yakumis and exhibited in “View of Cyprus: A photographic Itinerary from the 19th to the 20th Century”, which opened a couple of days ago in Lanitis Foundation in Limassol. The anonemous traveler photographed the school of the Sisters of St. Joseph of the Apparition (Larnaca) in September 1960.


From the same exhibition I really liked this photo of Fugères and Merle taken in 1902 in Nicosia. The clumsy framing, alongside with the elements composing the image create an symbolic synopsis of the Island’s projections, desires and realities. The ancient domed church in the background , the traditional ottoman outfit of the man in the middle, the half “westernised” man on the right and the donkey looking in a different direction becomes a rather accurate resume of the years to come (up to the stagnated reality of the present to overpass).

Two posters for the progress

Lost with Lia and Christina in Amsterdam. On the wall of Ikaros guesthouse in Limassol.

[3]

Toi

[...] J'ai tant rêvé de toi
que tu perds ta réalité [...] Robert Desnos

Tom sleeping

More memorabilia

I'm From Barcelona - We're From Barcelona

website, myspace

Yuri under the duvet

Just memorabilia

Goktug under the Pillows

Istanbul memorabilia

New Pillows

I got as present two brand new pillows and I am throwing away the old (keeping the dreams though).

Open-Closed

The open air stage at Kafkarides Drama School (Nicosia), before to get
cleaned for the summer.

Patinoire de l'Hôtel de Ville de Paris

It’s too hot today and I am plunging into the refreshing (and bloody) memories of February.

The man and the donkey

Among all the interesting pictures decorating the small tavern in
St. Andrew street (Limassol), I noticed yesterday passing by this documentation of a peculiar performance: A man standing behind a small donkey a man holding the small donkey.

[2]

Franz Schubert - Piano Sonata D. 959 (Adantino)

Allusive and agitated . This Shubert's Sonata always reveals new hidden lanscapes to me (here performed by Alfred Brendel).

A-Part

I was checking today the website of Body Parts Models Agency , which is a specialized model agency for body parts (arms, legs, lips, etc) and I got fascinated to discover such a variety of specialization. To achieve the hyper-perfection segmentation seems to be the only solution. I vote for Michael Hans who is the exception in perfection, he is a Scars Model and I like him a lot… Check him out (click on "unusual parts" and then on his name)!

So In Love

Rachel York