S&T RESIDENCY: Ioulita Toumazi and Miriam Gatt, “Clementine dies again”, 1 April, 2023, 6:30pm

“Clementine dies again” is a performative reading between current resident at Slavs and Tatars’ residency-mentorship program Ioulita Toumazi and Berlin based artist and writer Miriam Gatt.

A fictional ghost (Clementine) becomes the starting point for an exploration of collective traumas and histories related to colonialism and patriarchy in Cyprus. Through reciting poems that allude to liturgies and lamentations, the recurrent cycles of destruction-restoration / death-resurrection unfold. Inspired by the Orthodox Christian easter tradition of “Epitaphios” practiced in Cyprus, a new ritual of collective grieving and gentle regeneration is created. Christ’s body, an allegory for divine redemption, is replaced with Clementine's, representing ghosts from personal and collective pasts, that allow us to dream of our own transcendence and liberation. Cypriot food and drinks that are usually served in memorials and local rituals, will be shared with the participants in this intimate setting.

Ioulita Toumazi is an art theorist, curator and writer from Cyprus. Her research focus is on contemporary Cypriot art, postcolonialism, memory and language.

Miriam Gatt is an artist and writer whose practice reflects a wish to resist conformity by using processes of appropriation to take agency over the language employed by the institution of the family and the church.