IMCA: Yiannis Toumazis

Name: Yiannis Toumazis
Country Of Origin: Cyprus
Country Now Residing: Cyprus
Title: Smiley
Text: Louli Michaelidou

Yiannis Toumazis’ Smiley (2006) is an ostensibly benign but socio-politically poignant commentary on a controversial “national” symbol. For years now, a flag of epic dimensions in red and white paint has loomed over the city of Nicosia from the south slope of the army-occupied Pentadaktylos mountain range, located in the northern part of Cyprus. The flag was drawn on the mountain soon after 1983, the year of the declaration of the so-called “Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus”, whose symbol is this modified version of the Turkish national flag. Below it runs a quote by Kemal Atatürk stating ‘Proud to be a Turk’. Recently the flag was given a “face-lift”: its outline was enhanced by white lights flashing at night from the side of the mountain at apx. 5-minute intervals, gradually revealing the full shape. Paradoxically, this is occurring at a time when the Greek and Turkish Communities are supposedly focused on rapprochement, and while the regime of northern Cyprus is at pains to affirm its democratic values internationally. Through digital manipulation, Toumazis’ video-recording progressively dislodges and multiplies the original elements of the flag (crescent moon and star), eventually giving shape to a “smiley face” and thus transforming a crude political gesture into a popular image carrying a “naively” positive and optimistic message.

At the work’s core lies a reflection on the tactics and effects of populist discourse, such as the one nurtured within both Communities over the past few decades. At one extreme of this discourse one will find a public articulation of loss and trauma that is internalized over time through the manipulation of collective nostalgia, eventually becoming void of meaning; this is because it methodically distances the subject from tangible reality and the possibility of action. At the other extreme, there are pompous political acts motivated by the urge to exhibit power and territorial domination which – in this day and age – are at best alienating. In both cases, such tactics generate psychological responses ranging from aggression to passivity. It is true that, the more sophisticated the society, the more complex methods of propaganda the system needs to employ. In the case of the flag light-show, the provocation is so outrageously blatant that it seems to allow for no other response than a subtle, self-mocking hint.

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