The Australian War Memorial recently acquired Australian artist NIKE SAVVAS’ Walking Home: Road to Trachoni Kythreas (2025). The video artwork marks the 50th anniversary of the Turkish invasion and occupation of Cyprus.
In 2024 Savvas travelled to Cyprus and walked from her mother’s ancestral home in the city of Nicosia to her father’s home village in Trachoni Kythreas, a distance of over 90km. Her walk commemorated the thousands of people killed and displaced during the invasion, including members of Savvas’ Greek Cypriot family.
Alongside video of Savvas’ walk, the video includes archival footage of the ‘Women Walk Home’ anti-occupation marches of the 1970s and 1980s where women from all over the world – including Australia – walked across Cyprus to draw attention to the crisis.
Australian peacekeepers served in Cyprus from 1964 to 2021, making it Australia’s longest peacekeeping mission at 57 years.
Major General Cheryl Pearce AM, CSC served as Force Commander, United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus from 2019–2021. She was the first Australian to hold this role and the second-ever female force commander in the UN. Reflecting on women and peace, she said, “when you think about [peacekeeping] as helping civil society, supporting protection of civilians, and being part of the community … you need to have women as part of the dialogue and as part of the narrative. You can't achieve that through men alone.”
