YIAYIA (GRANDMOTHER)
Limited Edition Hand coloured screen print.
This image is about my grandmother, but much more than that, it is about finding out about our past and about community. The map on the face and in the background shows the city of Izmir, near the actual place where grandmother’s family had lived since the time of Alexander the Great: ‘Kirkagac’, which is the name of the name of the work. It was a settlement which grew up around an Islamic centre of learning and monastery. There is evidence to suggest that there was great tolerance amongst the inhabitants for diversity and for the different religious communities that lived there. When the war came, the family fled to Kirkagac, because they knew that they would be accepted and protected. Living in Leicester in the 21st Century is like that. A place where we stand united, and we respect each other. That is what this work mostly means to me.
