The footsteps of the people of the city become the common ground of memory, says the Larnaca 2030 team as it presents an exhibition by visual artist Marios Spiliopoulos, Human Traces IV – (The Conversation of Worlds).

The exhibition will run from December 10 to January 11 at the Larnaca Municipal Art Gallery, transforming the gallery space into a kind of temple where the hope for peace and redemption exists.

In the dim light of the space, the Theonyms of Theodoros Doukas Laskaris (1254) in Greek and the 99 Names of Allah in Arabic are heard simultaneously. This parallel acoustic flow of two major religious traditions creates an atmosphere of contemplation and a shared sense of coexistence in the search for the Divine.

On the floor of the gallery, and extending beyond it, lie hundreds of used pairs of shoes arranged as if walking. These shoes have travelled through the streets, squares and neighbourhoods of Larnaca. They were donated by its residents and come from different ages, genders and ethnicities. They are the offerings of the people of Larnaca, who responded to the artist’s call to contribute them as gifts, thus making the realisation of the work possible.

The shoes represent the traces of the incorporeal journeys of individuals, each bearing its own story, origin and faith. Together, they converge in one direction: towards the large projection of the stormy sea that dominates the far end of the space, visually dissolving the back wall of the gallery.

In this projection, the movement of the waves is reversed; instead of breaking on the shore, the wave retreats towards the horizon. The sea, ever present in cultural and religious narratives, emerges through its perpetual motion as an image of the infinite and the eternal.

At the centre of the projection burns a small lantern, a beacon that serves as a point of orientation for the incorporeal walkers within the fluid space of image and sound. The installation by Spiliopoulos is a work of social art that aims to act as a tool against social stereotypes, exclusion and racism, phenomena that lead to conflict and violence. It seeks to bring communities together, soften wounds and ease tensions, creating a small island of peace and reconciliation in an uncertain and ever-shifting era.

Human Traces IV – (The Conversation of Worlds)

Exhibition by Marios Spiliopoulos. December 10-January 11. Larnaca Municipal Art Gallery, Larnaca. Opening night: 7pm-9pm. Open daily: 9am-1pm and 3pm-6pm. Tel: 24-632500. [email protected]