By Heidi Trautmann

When Inci Kansu, Ismet Tatar and I visited a private exhibition in Nicosia, I thought I had entered another planet, where the creator has realized her vision to teach us the value and beauty of thrown away objects in our throw-away society. Raising awareness by showing the many ways and possibilities art offers. A pioneering woman and artist, Sema Akbel.

She said, when she finds a ‘lost’ object she has already the picture of the finished project in the back of her eye and mind, she is a seer, it is an ability only professional artists have.

And on top of it, she is a psychologist by profession, so her eye sight must be extraordinary.

The exhibition also transported me back to my childhood when after the war people had nothing and nothing was to be had. In those days we invented, created from what we found, we all had developed skills and we children created our own toys.

In her workshop/studio Sema Akbel keeps a vast collection of thrown away objects, such as parts from a bicycle or car, parts of marine gear or fishing equipment such as traps or cages; the tops of plastic bottles, old rusty nails of all sizes; industrial waste from woodworking and metal working industry, but also nature waste, a tree trunk she made a sculpture from, cut-off branches given a new life with saw and paint.

So, from these found, lost, collected waste objects she creates art objects, objects with a function, or just decorative, and to be used in a home, however, the home must be big and have large rooms. Many of the displayed objects have an integrated light source which gives a totally new aspect to her work.

Why a private exhibition? It is that the background stories have to be told to really understand the philosophy of her work. And Sema Akbel does it with love and passion and we listen carefully to what she has to say.

Once she found battered satellite dishes, 2 m wide and she saw the potential in them; the wood waste she collects from factories is given new faces; and in front of her objects she repeats her question to us: What do you think it was once? What would you do with a bicycle chain? It becomes the edge of a small table! An old bench covered completely with the tops of plastic bottles.  Copper wire transformed into a paradise bird with a pipe elbow as proud head. But the artist also picks up social problems, such as the unfreedom of women; a sculpture from waste which is presently at an exhibition in Turkey.

One and a half hours later we left Sema Akbel and her planet, deep in thoughts. We know that art is without limits but with her visions, she overturns social values. We have to reconsider our life style, our educational programmes and our future.

The exhibition is on appointment only. Please call her or send her a message under 0548 868 0666.

I have displayed only a few photos without titles and background story, one has to listen to what the artist has to say.