BirdLife Cyprus in collaboration with the A.G. Leventis Gallery is organising a different kind of exhibition this autumn.

The collaborative exhibition ‘Kochinohoma – Red Soil’ tells the story of the illegal killing of migratory birds in Cyprus, through a post-mortem inquiry into the unfortunate way they meet their end.

The timing of the exhibition is intentional, as birds in their millions are leaving Europe to seek the milder climates of Africa during winter. To these migratory birds that fly thousands of kilometres to their wintering grounds, Cyprus offers refuge along the way. For many however, this route turns out to be fatal.

‘Kochinohoma – Red Soil’ is the result of multiple collaborations between creatives, led by photographer Silvio Augusto Rusmigo, and designers Omiros Panayides and Thalis Nicolaou. The project has taken the form of a book-artefact, a documentary film, as well as an interactive installation. These elements come together to transport the viewer to a figurative crime-scene, bringing them close to the objects, sounds and landscapes that make up this illegal activity, while confronting them with some hard-hitting truths on the magnitude of this problem. Through this experience, the exhibition invites the viewer to delve into the multifaceted environmental and cultural issue of wildlife crime in Cyprus, raising questions about individual responsibility as well as collective action.