Safiye Basar, Lives in İstanbul and Works Kocaeli, Turkey
‘Silent Scream’
Q. Elisabeth Argo : Can you
provide me with a bit more background about your work and place this
performative work, Silent Scream, within the context of your body of work.
(please note that I found an online catalogue ceramISTanbul in Bologna which
has an image of Hope Chest, 2010)
A. Safiye Basar: In my geography where I live, the women have
struggled to be existing since first day of their life. As a woman, my personal
history is not different from other woman that live in this geography. Today, I
know it is different my mother and grandmother. But, I don’t know it will be
better than now or not. I’m worried. My concern is not only about with myself.
It associated with the women that live in this geography and others.
This concern has been a triggering factor in my artistic works, sculptures
and video. All of them contain references
from feminine crafts. They refer to women's position in society and his
struggle. In my works, The basic form is marriage bundle-bohca (squre cloth for
wrapping a bundle) Young girls learn to knit and weaver her bundle in her
childhood. They knit it stitch by stitch and
also attach their desires and
dreams (freedom, love, friendship and so on). Bohca, included metaphorical
approach, appears as a porcelain form in my Sculpture and video.
I made several porcelain marriage bundle-bohca. I called them, Love, Desire,
Hope, Motherhood, Wifehood. (a note: a piece
of them is Hope from Ceramist Exhibition in online catalog and it was made with
stoneware clay in 2010). Why do I prefer these names? I prefer this names
because some of them are expectation from marriage and future. The others are
responsibilities that are encumbered by society. Woman is squeezed in among of the expectation,
responsibility and the beliefs of traditional. She stars to struggle for her
expectations from life and freedom. Firstly, father reminds to him her
responsibility and traditions and than her husband also. You can estimate that their language is usually
not polite and their hands are very heavy and hard. In this geography, the most
of young girls expose to physical violence and psychological force.
In
the ‘silent Scream’, video, we saw a
woman who hold a white marriage
bundle-bohca in frond of sea. We can not pich up some clues about time and
also geography in which performance realized.
It can be every where, Turkey, Korea
Spain. There are some reasons for the selection of place. This place selected for sense of the eternity
with about time and space. The other reason
is to emphasize the loneliness of woman
at their struggle. The woman breaks the
porcelain bohca. First time, fragmentation may seem like a negation. The
fragmentation is not extinction, is a start. As physical properties of
porcelain, it includes a symbolic mean at this work.
Q. Elisabeth Argo: There is
a worldwide effort that is growing stronger with every passing day to raise
awareness globally for the issues that plague women and girls—violence,
trafficking, and subjugation. Silent Scream focuses on the subject of women,
our struggles, hopes and dreams; which I assume is also the subject of your
2010 Hope Chest. The vast majority of your country is Muslim. May I ask, hoping
not to insult, how is your work received in you part of the world? Where do you
see your work within this ever growing awareness and effort to make change?
A. Safiye Basar: As
you expressed above, the awareness of the issues that plague women and
girls—violence, trafficking, and subjugation is growing every passing day. Some
art works, films, articles support this. We know this effort is not sufficient
to eliminate all of them. If we want to
solve the problem we must detect the
correct origin of the problem. A large percentage of my county population is Muslim. I don’t believe that Violence against
women is only related with
religion. It concern with ideological approach, economic resources and
educational opportunities.
After my that work, Silent
Scream, I took very positive comments from
audience, especially woman audience. Some times, when you want to empress your
idea the words are not enough or efficient. However, a artistic work can
effectively express your thought and be shock. There a lot of artistic works that
deal with women in Turkey. Some of them is documentary or conceptual. They
usually increase to awareness about plague women and girls. In other words, they
drown the problems surrounding with red line. My work point out the problem
too. It is also be to encourage for bestir oneself (audience) who agree with
me.
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it was published in the 8. Gyeonggi International Ceramic Biennale 2015 International Competition Catalog. (Page 68-71)
Bu metin 8. Gyeonggi Uluslararsı Seramik Bienali 2015 Uluslararası Yarışma Kataloğunda yayınlanmıştır. (s.68-71)
Safiye Başar, 'Silent Scream', 2012, 2.38 sn
