EUROPEAN - MEDITERRANEAN ART ASSOCIATION ( E.M.A.A)

Within the Turkish Cypriot society, a number of art-sensitive people who often came together shared similar problems; these being, the unsatisfactory arts scheme of the country, the superiority of communal objectives over personal goals, the existence of overseas arts graduate students, the overwhelmingness of economical problems and hardships occasionally encountered when practicing art. The conditions being such, special efforts have been undertaken to contact the painter Anton Nusbichler, who lived in Austria, and several workshops have been organised. Again in Austria, a TRNC artists show has been held as a successful result of Nilgün Güney’s major efforts. Furthermore, a TRNC delegation, composed of five artists, attended the arts fair organised in Salzburg. The invitations from other countries continued but accepting all to attend the related art events was impossible to achieve on the artists own accounts and since it was hard to find sponsors, most of the invitations had to be declined.

As Turkish Cypriots, the inhabitants of an island isolated from the world, we had a powerful desire to communicate with the world, keep up with the contemporary arts, share ideas on art, breach the barriers erected by economical and political conundrums to artistic creativity and production, and to unite artists, art devotees and enthusiasts to institutionalise, and thus form a stronger voice.

Nilgün Güney’s studio located in old-city Nicosia hosted a union of the following artists: İhsan Gürel, Anıl Işık, Çimer Ergene, Necdet Turgay, Erdoğan Uzunahmet, Ateş Kozal, Mustafa Göze, Çınar Uluçay, Gülperi Sevengül, Ercan Sevengül, Hakan Karahasan, Hüseyin Çavuşoğlu, and Nilgün Güney. The artists agreed on taking initiatives for the establishment of an arts association in Northern Cyprus. After one year of pursuit filled with meetings and debates, the committee framed regulations and European-Mediterranean Arts Association (EMAA) was legally founded in December 2002. With a consistently growing body of members EMAA has been a voice for arts in Northern Cyprus by undersigning numerous events and organisations in line with its foundational principles. EMAA has attained wide recognition in Turkish Cypriot society with its dynamic team formed majorly by young members, its modern and democratic structure, and transparency.