Echoes in a seashell

Home is a warmth that settles in your heart,

A rising sun that brightens every part.

A joyful hum that carries you through the days,

A feeling that says gently: you belong, always.

”While I’m worth my room on this earth”

Robert Capa, the famous war photographer, is widely quoted as saying about his style of war photography  “If your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough.”

Having survived the Spanish Civil War, World War II, the Sino-Japanese conflict,  the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, it was Capa’s belief that to record faithfully required being close to the action that finally undid him – killed by stepping on a landmine in Vietnam in 1954.

But Capa’s encouragement to get close meant more than physical proximity – it meant immersion, closeness, understanding, explanation, commitment, capture the spirit.

The Spirit of Cyprus project is my attempt to  get close enough.

These images and stories pay homage,
to the people and landscapes that are my origins.
I’ve returned to something my body and emotions recognise.

Why Cyprus?

A personal journey of discovery

Fundamentally it must have something to do with my roots. I was born in the UK to Cypriot parents. I was brought up in the UK but in the Cypriot culture. This multi-culturalism feels natural to me and comfortable.  But as we age our roots intrigue us. They become pertinent as we ask what distinguishes us and seek to define our identity. And as those who have anchored us are no longer with us, with time running out, there is a need to reconnect with the people and places we come from, to learn more about our cultural heritage.

Cyprus, that leaf that floats at the far end of the Mediterranean, is my mother’s land - my ‘motherland’. By immersing myself in the island with the help of my camera’s eye I hope to capture its spirit - the Spirit of Cyprus - and so create a photographic mirror that reveals its soul.

At its root, this is a project about identity.