Art has always known and shown more than its era allowed to be spoken aloud.
Where society imposed prohibitions, artists left hints — depicting love as they saw it: beyond familiar categories, roles, and expectations.

Same-sex love, cross-dressing, androgyny, and play with identity have been consistently present in painting, sculpture, and visual culture.
Sometimes openly, sometimes almost in a whisper — in ways that required the viewer to look more closely.

At the lecture “The Art of Seeing Without Censorship”, we will talk about same-sex love, the body, and gender ambiguity as an integral part of the history of art and world culture — not as an exception, but as a norm of their time.

We will explore how the visual language of art works and how it was easily read by contemporaries: why the color of stockings could function as a social marker, where the characters’ gazes are actually directed, what lies behind scenes of feasts and bodily intimacy, and what role ancient Greek homoeroticism played in shaping the European visual tradition.

This is an invitation to a lecture where we will look at art without morality or fear.
We will try to take the position of viewers — not judges and not advocates, but those who are ready to see, even when what is seen goes beyond the familiar.

Lecturer: art history educator Slobodyan Liya
Date: January 27, 7:30 PM
Venue: Art-Podval, Limassol
Admission: €25