Ballad of the Olive Trees functions as a proposal and investigatory work into contemporary themes of post-conflict memory and the multi-faceted influences that the memory might succumb to. It follows the stories of former war prisoners and individuals who lost family members during the Cyprus 1974 invasion. The work questions the scale at which a local history is blown out of its contexts and how it becomes disembodied to fit selective narratives of socio-political interests. It explores the ways in which traumatic memories form narratives and how they are distributed upon their distinction from organic memories.
The project’s processes scrutinise the processes of elimination memories suffer when infused into institutionalised spheres of collective memories. The work is a continuation of the artist’s greater practise, investigating the intersection of memory, history and trauma in the aftermath of the Cypriot conflict. A series of previous projects examine themes related to traces of conflict on childhood memories and the Cypriot landscape, and the social status of Turkish-Cypriots in South Cyprus. Ballad of the Olive Trees harvests nature as a symbol of prevalence and perseverance, beyond bordering practises and against segregation and cultural division.
Alexis Andreou (born Limassol 1995) is a documentary photographer, curator, and visual artist who studied MA Photojournalism and Documentary Photography and BA (Hons) Photography in the London College of Communication, University of the Arts London. He experiments with a wide range of photographic genres, both in analogue and digital photography and his work mainly focuses on the visual documentation and investigation of sociopolitical affairs and their impact on contemporary society through the changing landscape.
Andreou’s current work is focusing on conducting a visual investigation on the aftermath of the Cypriot conflict events between 1964 and 1974, exploring how memory is recollected when oppressed by trauma in a bordered landscape alongside the impact that a four decade long cultural segregation has had upon displaced families and the identity of the island.
His previous work and experience has focused on experimenting with darkroom techniques and experimental photography alongside architectural photography and documentary work. Andreou’s current practise started after conducting theoretical research in war as archival image and its semiotic translation, and how documented imagery registers experienced violence and hardship in 2014.
Andreou’s practise has expanded in the curatorial sector in the last few years, having curated exhibitions at the London College of Communication and at the FUJIFILM House of Photography in 2023.
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Made possible by the support of Maria Artool from International Body of Artalexis