Solo exhibition by visual artist Elena Kouma exploring memory, origin and identity through painting, drawing, embroidery and installation. On view at Diatopos Art Centre, Nicosia, 18 November - 16 December 2026.
Solo exhibition by visual artist exploring memory and origin
Diatopos Art Centre presents the new solo exhibition by Elena Kouma titled The Tree in Me, curated by Daphne Nikita.
Elena Kouma is a visual artist who lives and works between Nicosia and Norway. Her artistic practice focuses on the relationship between the human being, memory and place, exploring concepts such as identity, origin, cultural identity, loss and renewal. Through painting, drawing, embroidery on linen fabric and installation, she combines different materials and techniques, creating works that hold traces of personal experiences and collective memories.
In the exhibition The Tree in Me at Diatopos Art Centre, the tree forms the central axis of her artistic search and becomes a symbol of human existence. As a living organism that carries the records of time, growth and change, it becomes a metaphor for the roots that connect us to our origins, and also for our ability to adapt, to move and to redefine our identity.
The personal experience of the artist as a Cypriot woman who lives between Cyprus and Norway forms an important frame of reference in her work. The two places, with their different landscapes, light and cultural references, coexist as spaces of memory and experience, creating an intermediate field between what we leave behind and what we choose to create anew.
Through the materiality of linen, the slow and handmade process of embroidery, drawing, and the coexistence of different surfaces and materials, Kouma explores what remains within us, even when it is not visible. Her work connects personal memory with a broader human experience, while also turning attention to nature and our responsibility towards it. The tree, at once steady and vulnerable, becomes a symbol of resilience and regeneration, inviting the viewer to reflect on their own roots, their journeys and the many meanings of belonging.
Visual artist Elena Kouma, born in Limassol, lives and works between Nicosia and Vikersund, Norway. Her artistic practice explores the relationship between intellect and matter, nature and human experience, through a distinctive visual language that bridges abstraction with figuration.
In 2022 she presented the exhibition Dialogue on Two Levels at Diatopos Art Centre in Nicosia. Her solo exhibitions include Dialogue: Elena Kouma Meets Erling Saatvedt at Modum Kunstforening in Norway (2025), Dialogue Between Intellect and Matter at Modum Kunstforening (2020), Liquid Souls at Argo Gallery in Nicosia (2015), as well as the series of works Heliogony, presented at Argo Gallery in Nicosia and at Silks Gallery in Limassol (2009-2010).
Her exhibition work also includes participation in major events and group exhibitions, such as the Larnaca Biennale (2025), the group exhibition FemiNest at Diatopos Art Centre in Nicosia (2023), curated by Daphne Nikita, the London Art Biennale (2021), Kunst Rett Vest at the Henie Onstad Museum of Contemporary Art in Norway (2019), as well as the exhibition Panspermia at Pantheon Gallery in Nicosia (2004).
Her upcoming exhibition participation includes Novemberutstillingen 2026, which will take place in November 2026 at Drammen Museum in Norway.
The exhibition will run until 16 December 2026 and will be open at the following hours: Wednesday-Friday 16:30-19:00 Saturday 11:00-13:00 Outside opening hours by appointment.
Diatopos Art Centre is located at Kritis Street 11Δ-Ζ, 1061 Nicosia, tel: 22.766117, email, website: Instagram: @diatopos_artcentre
The opening reception will take place on Wednesday, 18 November 2026, at 19:00.
