Heidi Trautmann

849 - Hikmet Uluçam honours nature with his exhibition CYCLAMEN and Winter Plants in Lapta
4/3/2016


By Heidi Trautmann

 

Actually, I thought,  I already have said everything with my announcement two weeks before the opening of this amazing exhibition, about Hikmet Uluçam’s dedication to nature and his loving care of this piece of land in Lapta which he had taken over about thirty years ago and which he has transformed into something of an indescribable wild beauty. He has somehow made a pact with nature, paid his respect and invited nature as an honoured guest, as a teacher, artist and landscape architect. That what nature is in the first place, but we have forgotten about it and are taking everything for granted.

I enclose again the relevant texts I have written about Hikmet Uluçam and his philosophy and approach to nature not only as a gardener but also as a graphic designer and art photographer.

 

http://www.heiditrautmann.com/category.aspx?CID=1654486188#.VwFKtpx96JA

http://www.heiditrautmann.com/category.aspx?CID=7158562564#.VwFK_Jx96JA

 

 

The day of the opening was warm and beautiful and hundreds of guests came up the road leading from the centre of Lapta to the old Başpinar and you certainly would not miss the place for the many cars that were lined up along the road going uphill. Hikmet had done a lot of preparations to lead the guests along towards the house through beds of cyclamen and anemones but at the same time keeping areas closed to not walk across the wild cyclamen growing under bushes and trees…. please just look at me and do not step on me.

It was a feast for the eyes with respect to forms and colours, with old cacti towering over small paths, discovering all kinds of winter flowers, and blossoming fruit trees such as avocado and mulberries. The many different kinds of cactus, many years old and schools of young plants and its kindergarten. People could buy some and I saw many guests wandering off with small pots.

Dr. Sibel Siber, the Speaker of the Parliament had come to open the exhibition. In the Cactus Gallery itself, a lovely hall which Hikmet always wanted to turn into a regular gallery and ceramic studio, he had the walls literally plastered with photos of cyclamen.

At the entrance I discovered the photo of the house and land as it was when he took it over and opposite an old painting of his that shows his love for this very Cypriot plant Cyclamen.

 

Hikmet Uluçam, the father of cacti, how he is called otherwise, teaches us how a piece of Cypriot landscape can be kept as a garden, giving it the right to grow and shine in its own right, not forcing it to become something different. It always pays, I say, just like with human beings.

The gates to Hikmet’s Wonderland are open for the public until April 10. Click onto the link.

 

http://www.heiditrautmann.com/category.aspx?CID=6231185165#.VwFKQJx96JB

 

 



































house and property in 1985
house and property in 1985




















Hikmet with two art photographers Buket Özatay and Mehmet Gökyigit
Hikmet with two art photographers Buket Özatay and Mehmet Gökyigit






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