FOLLOWING on from the success of their first crochet art installation in Paphos in August, a group of Cypriot women will decorate an ancient tree with hand crocheted pieces on Friday afternoon.
Members of Peace2Peace, a bi-communal initiative, will assemble hand crochet flowers and squares to adorn a landmark tree outside the municipal gallery in Paphos, to promote peace and friendship.
The crochet street art has been created by more than 60 women from both the Greek Cypriot and Turkish Cypriot communities, one of the co-ordinators, Christiana Mouzouri told the Cyprus Mail.
The first initiative, which saw them cover an old anchor at Paphos harbour with colourful crochet pieces, was so successful, she said, that a number of squares were left over. These, along with hundreds of new pieces, will be used at Friday’s event.
“We have also created hundreds of flowers, to go with the pieces which weren’t used at the last event. We will create a river of flowers around the huge olive tree in the park at the top of Gladstonos Street in Paphos.”
Mouzouri said that after forging a great friendship with Nilgun Akin, a Turkish Cypriot woman who lives in Kyrenia, they started the Cyprus Women’s Association, to encourage Turkish Cypriot women and Greek Cypriot women to have a coffee, and form friendships.
Out of this came Peace2Peace, a bi-communal initiative which aims to involve women from all over Cyprus, enabling them to exchange ideas, break down prejudices and really get to know each other, she said.
“It’s to get to know the women behind the border, for us each to know that the other is a Cypriot, just like us. It’s just human interaction, building bonds and forming friendships, and no politics,” she said.
Friday’s event will take place from 5pm until around 7.30pm and will see women from both communities putting the piece together and decorating the tree.
“We will also have some homemade cakes and refreshments available and everyone is invited to come and join us, spend a day in the park and enjoy the free event,” she said.
Following the groups’ first event, a similar group made up of women from both Israel and Palestine contacted them to cooperate.
“We are called Peace2Peace and they are named Piece4peace, they do similar actions to us, but theirs involves quilting. So, in the future, we will send them some pieces and they will send us some back. These Israeli and Palestinian women also want peace and freedom.”
Mouzouri said that other projects are planned in the future, including events in co-operation with Pafos2017
For further information: Peace2Peace Open Air Crochet Installations on Facebook
Source: cyprus-mail.com
