‘Twice A Stranger’ Exhibition Begins in Nicosia

The Greek Ambassador in Cyprus, Vassilis Papaioannou, inaugurated the “Twice a Stranger” exhibition in Nicosia, which is about the greatest forced migrations and population exchanges of the 20th century, when millions of people were uprooted and forced to move to new homelands.

After World War I, many people were forced to migrate and they often described themselves as “strangers.” They have always been “strangers” to every country they lived, so this is the perfect title to describe this feeling. The human cost of refugee displacement is reflected in the testimonies of those who lived to tell the tale. These stories – whether from Greece, Turkey, Germany, Poland, India, Pakistan or Cyprus – reveal a common human experience of lost homelands and communities ripped apart: the experience of being “Twice a Stranger.”

Personal testimonies and rare archive footage are combined in multimedia video installations that bring visitors face-to-face with the survivors of these traumatic events. It is designed by Swedish architect Johan Annerherd and allows the visitor to tour around the site through a virtual maze and feel closer to personal testimonies, the audio visual material and the rare pictures.

The exhibition is part of the European Education and Culture DG Program by Anemon Productions, and is organized in collaboration with the Benaki Museum, the Leventio Municipal Museum of Nicosia and the Bilgi University. The Cypriot exhibition will be open to the public through September 2.

In September, the exhibition will travel to Greece to the Benaki Museum, so that citizens of both countries have the opportunity to go back to 20th century history through an artistic way.