By
Heidi Trautmann
It
is the second exhibition of Günay Güzelgün’ art works, organized in cooperation
of the Eastern Mediterranean University and Rüstem Bookstore, curated by Zehra
Sonya, who wrote a very fine introduction on the exhibits; she has described
the artist’s philosophy with sensitivity and knowledge.
For
me it was a pleasure to see the works again, unfortunately I could not meet the
artist herself this time. My interview with her is in my artbook ‘Art and
Creativity in North Cyprus, Volume I’ I often had the opportunity to talk to
her and one of the most interesting meetings with her was when she took us to
Lurucina, the place where she was born in 1944, the place which is still kept
isolated from the rest of our country, the place where her heart is and members
of her family. After 1974 she lived and worked as an art teacher in Iskele but
never felt at home there and often enough she went to her home village to heal.
With her she always had a sketch book and she drew her family’s and friends’
home life, her childhood surroundings, the special atmosphere of colours that
reigns in this area, the special light because of the white soil where I
discovered shells in the ground proving that the Mesaoria/Mesarya was once
covered by the sea. A village of light, hence her choice of colours in her
sketches. Here a link to our trip to Lurucina:
http://www.heiditrautmann.com/category.aspx?CID=3512332187#.X6zDrGUzaUk
The
sketches carried out in pastel and/or gouache, are witnesses of village life as
it used to be and I repeat here the last sentence of Zehra’s introduction: …”Günay’s
paintings emerge from a non-compulsive and non-artificial inner structure, a
childish and pure world and a state of emotion and energy ready to explode at
any moment. We can say that life itself is recreated with the eyes of heart in
Günay’s colourful world and brought to our attention, for those who look and
understand how to see.”
Günay
has been part of the Lurucina Initiative to revive the place of which we have
heard much recently.
The
exhibition will be open to visit at Rüstem Bookstore Art Gallery until November
21, 2020 from 10:00 to 18:00 hrs.