Yekenda: The art of Ebru is possible the most fascinating of all the art forms Turkey. Ebru
artist Sevim Surucu attempts with all of her pieces to make tribute to the beauty
and allure of the creation that surrounds her.
Sevim: The art of Ebru is one of our traditional Turkish arts, it is an 18th century art so it
was one of the forms of arts done during the Ottoman Empire. The significance of
this art in my opinion is that it is one of the most interesting forms of art in the
world because you do your art work on the surface of water. Also each art work
you make absolutely does not look like any of the other you might have executed.
Its always one of a kind. The shapes and the flowers you draw on it is vital,
traditionally they use to make this flowers either in a symmetrical form or
individually. You can always use your imagination when you’re working but the
following symmetry is very important too.
There is a deep meaning in this which is that the things that human try to make in
fashion will never resemble what god has created. In fact we can confidently
assert that in all areas of art, the pieces made are usually imitation of what god has
created. The past masters of this art always thought that something that has been
created by god can never be imitated, because it cannot be imitated they did not
give a realistic look to it. On the contrary they chose to do more straight and
symmetrical stuff, for example think of a flower, they’re all unique and their
measurements are perfect, so it can never look like anything that god has created.
Yekenda: People crowd the Ebru tent to catch a glimpse of the fabulous demonstration.
Here Sevim illustrates her skill from the spray of colors on the water to the fan
fair where she pulls out the paper to display a masterpiece in just 5 minutes.
Sevim: The reason Ebru patterns have to be consistent is because it has to hold the paint
on top of the surface of the water. What I’m making right now is the background.
The feature of this paints are that they are made out of soil and they are made by
mixing Alkalize gum and turpentine water and by waiting for the long hours.
Male1: I’ve seen many different examples of it but I never saw the processes that are
happening so it’s very interesting.
Male2: Oh the illustration is very beautiful, very simple but very beautiful process and the
ultimate ending of art is just absolutely beautiful, I’ve never seen it before but I
was glad to see it.