BIOGRAPHIES OF CYPRIOT WOMEN
VOICING THE SILENCES OF HISTORY
A PROJECT CONNECTING CIRCUS ARTS AND WOMEN’S HISTORY
For many years women have been invisible in historiography leading historians to describe women as the “silences” of history.
This has resulted in the―often unconscious―assumption that women have been passive throughout the making of society; that is, a distorted vision of the past reinforcing gender stereotypes in the present.
Although since the 1970s, European historians have done an extraordinary work in bridging this gap, there is still much ground to cover.
In Cyprus, the invisibility of women’s stories continues to be a depressing fact. Cypriot historians have been struggling to find one or two women for whom a solid biography has been written and could be promoted as a positive role-model, or as a means to understand more about the history of women’s contributions and women’s challenges. At the same time, the stories of women who had not been “in line” with social norms and expectations have been even more neglected.
This project has made a fundamental step towards putting Cypriot women back in history through the publication of an e-book with selected biographies of Cypriot women. And we have made this free and accessible to all! To read it, click below on the cover of your preferred language (English, Greek, or Turkish).
To read the summary of the e-book in English press here.
The publication was launched in an innovative and open-to-the-public event which took place at Dentro theater in Nicosia on the 14th of June 2025. The event had two parts. The first part consisted of an alive conversation with the authors, touching the subjects of women’s history in Cyprus, the invisibility of that history, and the content of the relevant publication on selected biographies of Cypriot women.
Below you can watch the conversation.
Mediator: Stavroula Michael.
Panelists (from left to right): Magdalene Antreou, Thekla Kyritsi, Koral Ozkoraltay.
The second part of the event was a performance, inspired by Cypriot women’s history, created by a joint group of Spanish and Cypriot artists.
Below you can watch the video of the amazing performance.
Show directors: Asvin Lopez and Toni Gutierrez from the incredible circus company ‘La FeM Fatal’.
Live music: Anastasia Demetriou (Nama Dama).
Show performers: Melina Chasikou, Theocharis Constantinou, Camilo Gaitan, Marina Poyiadji, Ozkan Uygur.
The project includes also three workshops which allowed the exchange of knowledge between the Cypriot and the Spanish partner organisations as well as the training of Cypriot performers in the circus arts by the experienced Spanish team of circus artists. More particularly, the project included the following workshops:
- Telling her-stories from the perspective of gender awareness: How to narrate women’s history in theatrical and performative settings. This was a workshop prepared and facilitated by the project’s leader (Center for Gender Equality & History) and was attended by the partner’s project team (Association Vortex-Fem Fatal). The workshop included presentations, discussions, and experiential activities on how women and women’s history are represented in scenic arts, and the social impact of invisibility and stereotypical/disempowering representations. It also aimed in imagining new ways to achieve gender-balanced and inspiring representations. To read the workshop’s lesson please press here.
- A workshop based on a women’s history walk in Nicosia. This was a one-day workshop organised by the project’s leader (Center for Gender Equality and History) and offered to the Spanish partners (Vortex – La Fem Fatal) with the aim to introduce them to the history of Cyprus, so that they would be better equipped to produce the circus performance at the end of the project (Activity 4: Grand Event). This way, the performance could have references and inspiration by Cyprus landscape and Cypriot women’s history. For this reason, emphasis was given on social and women’s history of Cyprus, and the basic geography and history of Nicosia. This was accomplished via a lengthy historical walking tour across the old city of Nicosia, accompanied with a presentation and discussion on the relevant issues. The tour was also an investigation of potential spaces that could host the circus performance at the end of the project. To read the workshop’s lesson plan, please press here.
- A laboratory on circus techniques. A laboratory on circus techniques that was developed by the Spanish circus company, La Fem Fatal, and offered to Cypriot performers. The laboratory was offered for free to 16 participants. The duration of the laboratory was two days. Beyond contributing to the advancement of circus arts in Cyprus, the laboratory was also an opportunity for the two Spanish directors to meet Cypriot performers and investigate choices for the Cypriots who would later be asked to become part of the circus show at the end of the project. The read the schedule of the laboratory, please press here.
The project (reference number: 2023-1-CY01-KA210-ADU-000165658) was implemented by the Center for Gender Equality and History in association with the Spanish Association Vortex and the circus company La Fem Fatal, and funded by the Erasmus+ Project of the European Union.
Disclaimer:
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.