The wood exposed its wounds voluntarily layer by layer
By Heidi Trautmann
He lives by the sea, Ismail Isilsoy, and his carved
wooden masks tell the story of sea and sun, of wood riding on the waves from
other coasts and landing high on the beach where he finds them, Ismail, the
poetic sculptor. His house and studio is on the main road in Yesilirmak among
strawberry fields, where he often invites his friends to sing and recite poems.
For this 10th summer exhibition though he decided to exhibit his
sculptures at the Aphrodite Holiday Village in Gaziveren, closer to Güzelyurt. He
promised that we would witness the most spectacular sunset there, which we did
right in time for the exhibition to open with a concert given by his friend and
musician Muharrem Cemoğlu on the cello, later accompanied by a guitarist.
Ismail says:
That was Aphrodite’s island.
Grieved land.
The warriors’ boots and combats
had besmirched
the delicate footprints
of the lady of eternal love
during the centuries...
Ismail Isilsoy gives his wooden faces the pain and
resignation accumulated during the years of waiting, waiting for peace and
justice adding the tears that run down the faces as flower petals.
The unique fragrance of jasmines
In this suffering island had all gone.
Those were the trees which had been
witnesses to the tragedy.
Ismail has reached our hearts with his art but I wonder
if he will reach the hearts of the holidaymakers in Gaziveren during the three
days of exhibition.