Using Old Cypriot Schoolbooks, Marina Kassianidou Reveals ‘A Partial History’

Using Old Cypriot Schoolbooks, Marina Kassianidou Reveals ‘A Partial History’

Mary Annunziata

For years, Marina Kassianidou has worked with 19th and 20th-century Cypriot schoolbooks from her late grandmother’s collection. To date, she has reproduced eight of the original texts, which are written in an old form of Greek and span topics including history, geography, religion, and economics. However, for her solo show A Partial History, at NARS Foundation, the artist has focused on markings in the books. As visitors circulate through the room, donning white gloves to handle the four artist’s books on display surrounded by large-scale drawings on paper it feels like stepping into a rare book library—it is a reverent experience.