Visiting Sevcan Çerkez, the creator of life size
sculptures at her studio
Sculptures for the 11th Theatre Festival
By Heidi Trautmann
The best studio for working with clay is …the kitchen!
I know, many don’t like it, I know it from my own experience; my sons used to
ask me: Mom, must we always eat our bread with clay dust on top? But for a ceramic artist, especially for a
sculptor, it might be just the place to work; there is water, all kind of
kitchen tools in your drawers, in case you need a special pattern, your lunch
or dinner can slowly cook on its own while you work, you can supervise your
children or grandchildren and you can always check on the structure of a body
part watching your family or friends.
When I go visiting Sevcan I know for sure that a new
sculpture is on the way on the kitchen counter and while we sit around and
discuss the new work, we can make ourselves a cup of coffee and later read the
cup what the future may bring.
On my last visit Sevcan was working on two new sculptures
for the 11th Theatre Festival in Nicosia. It is for the Cypriot
contribution by the Nicosia Municipality Theatre for their new play ‘ADA’
(Island, a play by the South African playwright Athol Fugard about racial
segregation and freedom, adapted by Yaşar Ersoy – he changed the sex of the two
protagonists - and also directed by him, a play with the two actresses Özgür
Oktay and Döndü Özata, and I tell Sevcan that the heads have a great likeness
to the actresses…. which is intended as she explains. They play two women emprisoned
in one cell in an island prison who share life and pain, their tears, their
wounds, their stories, past and future; the two sculptures will be part of the
scenes on stage.
Living imprisoned, we conclude, talking about life in
general, you don’t have to be in a real prison, you often have it at your own
doorsteps. While we talk and ask the coffee cups, the members of her clay
family sit around the sitting room and are obviously having a ball.
The performances of ADA will be in the LBT Theatre
itself on September 24 and 25 at 21:00 hrs. See the poster or our cultural
events calendar for details.