Eyes to See and Hands to Touch

An extensive retrospective of the work of Nina Iakovou (1931–2025) is presented in Larnaca from May 7, highlighting a creative journey spanning more than six decades that left a decisive imprint on contemporary Cypriot art.

The exhibition "Nina Iakovou: Eyes to See and Hands to Touch," co-organized by the Bank of Cyprus Cultural Foundation and the Pierides Museum, brings together works from different periods of her artistic trajectory, showcasing the breadth and continuous evolution of her visual language.

Ceramic compositions, sculptures, paintings, drawings, installations, and mixed-media works form a polyphonic whole, where matter functions as a carrier of memory and experience. At the core of Iakovou's creation lies the human form—often feminine—through which personal and collective struggles, experiences, and narratives are expressed.

Her relationship with Cypriot soil and its materials, clay, stone, and the traces of gesture, runs throughout her entire body of work. Influenced by both ancient Cypriot ceramics and the traditional pottery of Famagusta, she developed a profound materiality that connects the local with the universal. Her forms, often rough yet simultaneously vulnerable, seem to emerge from memory, transforming lived experience into visual narrative.

The exhibition functions as both a substantial retrospective and an introduction to the creator's inner world: where touch, sight, and memory meet. The experience is complemented by an accompanying publication in the form of a visual book, which includes sketches, drawings, and handwritten notes from her archive, offering more direct access to her thinking and creative process.

Nina Iakovou, born in Famagusta in 1931, was among the first female sculptors of Cyprus. She studied in Athens in the 1950s and worked both in Cyprus and abroad, creating works of small and large scale. After 1974 she settled in Larnaca, where she continued to create until her death in 2025. Her works are found in public and private collections, as well as in the State Collection of Artworks.

The opening will be accompanied by sign language interpretation, followed by a reception in the museum space. Within the framework of the exhibition, educational activities and parallel events are also scheduled.