Vuslat’s unique gift is the ability to embody a lyrical world in form and matter. Her work develops a sensory-based experience that is, at the same time, very receptive to narrative. We see these forms and we immediately sense them too. This collusion of the optic and the haptic becomes a place where true synesthesia takes place. Her sculptures are placed in a gallery, yes, and yet we can easily imagine them outside, guiding us along a path where nature merges with memories and also the many stories that we keep in our minds. Think about it. What makes this work special? Western modernity has long been hyper-focused on the description of experiences, but not on experience itself. That is perhaps the reason why, when it started losing its centrality, storytelling emerged with such force. This is the force that these works by Vuslat possess: expression and the primacy of touch and presence. Vuslat’s works say: the skin exists. And, for her, the skin is the true core of the body, being both subject and object, within and without.
“Silence” presents a close family of sculptures—some monumental in scale. It is the first exhibition ever by Vuslat. For years her life revolved around another world, one in which her practice as an artist was not centered. But the making of art became important, and with it, being an artist became possible. Sharing this work represents a fundamental shift in her life. Why then “Silence”? Should it not be said in a loud voice? In her approach, language is a thing that dominates and is removed from nature, something which cloaks
true experience. Silence, then, to enhance expression, to be visceral, loud, while remaining soft and receptive.
The practice of sculpture—for Vuslat—is the practice of understanding mutuality with both organic and non-organic life. Bodies radiate wisdom; it is our duty to be attentive and receive its gifts, and reciprocate. Therefore, the materials: marble, a stone that contains oceans. Therefore, the texture: soft, emulating an infinite skin that makes interaction with the others possible, desirable, respectful.Therefore, the forms: organic, open, able, receptive, willing, waiting. Therefore, the rhythm of the pieces: dynamic, as if a wind or a stream was about to touch them and move them.
This exhibition is conceived as a mirror of the states of the mind. Her works are committed to the spiritual and also psychodimensional origins of art. As in the poetry and philosophy of Rumi, in the sculptures of Vuslat the main exercise is practicing oneness.
by
Chus Martínez
my place is the placeless, the trace of
the traceless neither body
Or soul
I belong to the Beloved,
have seen the two worlds as One and
that One called to
and know:
First,
Last,
Outer,
Inner.
R U M İ