Limassol

Over the past few days we have been in Cyprus and have been exploring, as well as being educated about some of the main problems facing Cyprus by professors and students from the University of Nicosia. One of my favorite tour spots of on our time in Cyprus was the town of Limassol. I especially liked this because during our free time, Nathan and I went to walk around the city, and discovered street art after street art. I don’t think that I have every experienced street art like this. In the United States, you don’t really see a lot of street art, you see more of graffiti, which in often looked down upon. If you do end up seeing any graffiti is more gang oriented for territory more than anything (of the graffiti that I have seen). In the European hemisphere is it clear to see that street art or graffiti is meant for so much more than just a territorial war, street art is used to express oneself through art, or even a political centered piece. To me I saw that two things that were being expressed with the street art. An expression of thought was definitely evident with one side of the street art. A lot or people are unhappy with how states are running the current system and its affects on the people. Those said people have chosen to take a specific path and express themselves through graffiti, instead of a political system. Such expressions contained negative and positive words about facism and refugees. What I took away from seeing this graffiti is that people are not happy with their current system that they are speaking their minds to an audience that may not be looking at the message at all, they are spray painting things on the side of walls that many people are likely to pass or look over. Instead of taking it to their legislatures or elected officials, they have chosen an alternative route. I feel that is shows the problems within the political system, how the state is not providing amenities for its people; that there is no social buy-in therefore no legitimacy for the government (and no opportunity to repair the damage that has been done to the society and the people that inhabit it). It often makes me think about why these people have chosen to stick around when things are so tough. How are these people sure that things will get better, if they themselves are not doing anything to help the system? What will eventually happen to them, and the state if there is a continual disconnect between the two? 

Another thing that I took away from seeing all the graffiti is that it is embraced here. There were no signs of trying to cover up the graffiti to make building look uniform or similar (how it is in the United States). What the graffiti adds to the society is a sense of uniqueness, something to be proud of, embracing the beauty of human creation. All of the street art that Nathan and I saw was so well done it was mind blowing. It was fascinating to see that people were integrating what an artist had done into their business or home. We passed on specific restaurant that had a mural of a street with children playing in a fountain, and when you continued down the wall, people were framed with shutters to make it appear as if they were looking out into the street as a normal person would do. It made it seem that people were watching you when in theory no one was actually watching you. An underlying concept to me with the graffiti is that no one is trying to erase the graffiti because it is the spirit of the people, it is the people showing their true emotions in a way that they might not be able to do before. The graffiti in a sense is the soul of the people, and one has to look in the right place to find out what they people may want or desire, because graffiti or street art can easily be overlooked or passed by, but those who care enough to stop are the ones that understand the struggles and hardships that people are under, and are willing to help.