EMAA – European Mediterranean Art Association hosts a book launch: DERYA ULUBATLI ‘Cyprus: Making peace with ART’

By Heidi Trautmann

In her Master term for Art History and Criticism between 2014 and 2017 Derya Ulubatlı who studied at the University of Milan in Italy, decided to do her thesis on her homeland Cyprus with its problems and how things could be changed and what so far had been done in the field of peace making measures.  She had the support of her professor in Milan, the support of EMAA with Zehra Şonya, its director, who pushed her towards the idea and the support of EMU-KAM with Naciye Doratlı who believed in her project and made available all sorts of archive material. A very research intensive work, I have to say.  The first version was written in Italian, it had to be translated into Turkish and for a second version, also into English.

On April 16, 2019, the book was finally ready for a proper book launch on the premises of EMAA in Nicosia and it met with great interest.

Since I have been present to most activities of EMAA from the very first years I felt myself – as a member of EMAA - the pride of what EMAA had achieved since its establishment. Derya Ulubatlı undertook to analyze these various activities and art projects and she has succeeded very well, and her book is a sort of conclusion for the 17 years of EMAA projects for peace since its foundation.

ART is in many ways a watchdog for society, it observes, brings to the surface harmful matters and tries to calm the waves or rather to pour oil on raging waves or troubled waters with its activities.

The book is in Turkish and English and is at the moment available at EMAA, Belediye Sokak 1, Nicosia, EMAA is on facebook; later it is planned to make it available at Galeri Kültür and Khora Bookstore, both in Nicosia.