YoaYeo Art

This is my entry to the "There is an Island III" group exhibition hosted at the Cypriot High Commission in London.

The wood that runs through the paintings reads:   

“FROM THE HOLY CHURCH OF ST LAZARUS (9TH CENTURY) TO DJAMI KEBIR MOSQUE (19TH CENTURY) TO LARNAKA MEDIEVAL FORT (14TH CENTURY) IS A 5 MINUTE WALK.”

This artwork is a mixed‑media piece that intimately reflects my relationship with my hometown of Larnaca—a place where layers of history, faith, and culture coexist within a remarkably compact space. Executed in acrylic on card and incorporating found wood with metallic paint, the work brings together three monumental sites deeply embedded in the city’s identity: the Holy Church of St Lazarus (9th century), Djami Kebir Mosque (19th century), and Larnaca Medieval Fort (14th century), all situated within a five‑minute walk of one another.

The composition is not arbitrary; the route traced within the artwork follows the same ratio and directional logic one would encounter on a map when moving between these sites. This deliberate structuring subtly alludes to my mathematical background, where spatial relationships, proportion, and ordered pathways play a crucial role. The route becomes both a visual guide and an underlying system of logic—bridging intuition and calculation.

Upon first encounter, the viewer is drawn to the interplay of materials and textures. The found wood, with its natural grain, acts almost as a topographical line, guiding the eye across the composition much like a mapped pathway through the city itself. The multicoloured labyrinths represent the vibrancy of the town where routes intersect. This physical and conceptual thread connects the monuments, weaving together past and present, sacred and secular, permanence and transience—hallmarks not only of the artwork, but of Larnaca as I personally experience and remember it.

The work is further grounded in a deeply personal element through its frame, which was custom made with the help of my partner. Using a type of wood that subtly reacts to changes in temperature and humidity, the frame introduces a quiet, almost imperceptible shift over time. In this way, the painting itself carries a sense of life—never entirely fixed, but gently evolving with its environment, much like the city it reflects and the memories it holds.

Thank you to journalist Dina Husseini and Cyprus Mail for the feature on this piece.

International Exhibition in Argostoli, Kefalonia, celebrating Olympism, Paralympism, and volunteerism through art.

Autumn 2024

It was held under the auspices of UNESCO and the World Cultural Diplomacy Organization.  

For Let Us Connect, I draw on the familiar “single stroke” human figure, repeated across five canvases in the colours of the Olympic rings. While these colours are typically joined, here they are set apart, each on its own rectangular surface, representing the five inhabited continents—Europe, Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Oceania.

Each figure is rendered in gold, a quiet symbol of our shared humanity. Layered paint allows earlier forms to recede and soften, echoing the way memory fades over time. In this gradual obscuring, the work reflects on the passing of generations, and on how connections shift, loosen, and are sometimes lost.

Rooted in the spirit of the Olympics, the piece speaks to both unity and distance—holding together a sense of collective belonging, while acknowledging the fragility of human connection across time and place.

Let Us Connect, by Ioanna Georgiou