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Painting and Photography Exhibition
by Cypriot Armenian Artists
Τ
he European Presidency has inevitably drawn
much attention to the Republic of Cyprus,
and the Armenian Community took this wonder-
ful opportunity to display a small fragment of the
multicultural mosaic of what we describe as the
civilisation of Cyprus. This civilisation comprises
various ethnic and religious groups, all of which
serve our homeland in their own way. Thus the
Armenian Representative, Vartkes Mahdessian,
organised a unique exhibition within the frame-
work of the Cyprus Presidency of the Council of
the European Union featuring work by nineArme-
nian painters and sixArmenian photographers.
On 16 July, the President of the Republic of Cy-
prus, Mr Demetris Christofias, inaugurated the ex-
hibition – the event was attended by ambassadors,
consuls, representatives of political parties and
permanent secretaries of ministries. The exhibi-
tion was housed in the superb Casteliotissa Hall
and remained open until 31 July. The photographs
on display took visitors on a trip through time to
the idyllic Cyprus of the mid-20
th
century, while
the paintings provided a glimpse of the richness
of Armenian culture and heritage. The entire two-
week exhibition was a tremendous success.
Artist Biographies
Garbis Bezdikian
was born in Cairo in 1923. After
graduating from the Melkonian Educational Insti-
tute, he worked as a graphic designer, a cartographer
and a comic artist, but his chief occupation was as a
music producer for Turkish radio programmes at the
CyBC. He was a member of the Chamber of Fine
Arts, aswell as amember of theArtists’International
Association and an honorary President of the Self-
taught Artists of Cyprus. The subjects of his paint-
ings were always life and people. He passed away in
2009, leaving behind works full of life.
Sossee Eskidjian Nikolaides
was born in Nicosia
in 1969 and received her BA in Fine Arts from
Southwestern Oklahoma State University. She
has been working as a set and costume designer
and an art director, having directed a number of
President Christofias poses with some of the participating artists