By Heidi Trautmann

‘Şeher’ meaning Daybreak, a new beginning, perhaps both. A new beginning based on the past, faces and places of yesterday, faces of people who accompanied the Cypriots for a lifetime, who are part of history now. The same is valid for places, alleys and houses, daily meeting points; daily life, kids playing in the old alleys while their grandparents and neighbours sit in the shade of old houses between potted plants. I also remember those days in Arabahmet quarter. A painting of Foto Şik in his younger years, of Kamran Aziz the well-known composer, faces one will not forget, and so many more. What an amazing collection of beautiful portraits and street scenes.

On the opening evening the rooms of the HASDER Institute were so crowded that no one could get in at the beginning. HASDER, the Folkart Institute where local handicraft is not only displayed but taught in special courses, the very proper place to have an exhibition of art work to show Lefkoşa history. 

On Cyprusscene I found a link where Chris Krzentz interviewed Semra and her twin sister Sevcan Cerkez, interesting to read.

http://cyprusscene.com/2017/03/14/turkish-cypriot-artists-semra-bayhanli-and-sevcan-cerkez/

I suggested that Semra should have a book made of the paintings together with the stories that were told on the evening of the opening. I found so many people telling me where they have been playing as children, what the place looked then and today, where the good times have gone to… because they were good after all….. the well-known people displayed, their stories. So very important are the comments made on the paintings by Ahmet Okan. And a first seen and observed at the opening of an exhibition was sign language done during the opening speech and recorded on television. Also, all the paintings had a tag with the text explained in Braille for blind visitors. Very touching that no one is forgotten.

The exhibition will be on until April 14 during official working hours.