28. Leyla Oz

WINNER - Western Sydney Artist Award

Judges said, “Leyla Oz’s work Kefen - Nothing but a few pieces of cloth engages architecture, sculptural installation and culture. In a generous and poetic way, she shares an element of her religion, the Islamic burial tradition, where you take nothing to your grave except for the 5 pieces of cloth that your body is wrapped in.”

Kefen - Nothing but a few pieces of cloth, 2023

cotton sheets, mirror polished mylar, steel fixings, exterior rated wire, incense and non-alcoholic perfume

Transcription

Hi, my name is Leyla. I am a Turkish-Muslim woman born in the Western Sydney suburb of Liverpool. I was formally trained in the discipline of architecture, and as such my artworks aim to create new understandings of our physical surroundings, both built and natural. I do this by creating artworks that engage with natural invisible forces in our world, such as light, wind, and water. 

My artwork for Rookwood Cemetery is called ‘Kefen’. The name Kefen is both a Turkish and Arabic word which is the shroud that a deceased person is wrapped in when they are buried. Kefen is similar to the word coffin and is indicative of the nature and subject of my artwork - which is death. 

Unlike other traditions such as Egyptian burial rituals where the body is buried with its worldly possessions. In my religion, Islam, you take nothing to your grave except for the 5 pieces of cloth your body is wrapped in when you die. We don’t use a traditional coffin and putting anything additional into the grave is not allowed. This is a representation that you are born into this world with nothing but a blanket and you return to God in the same way. 

Each cloth of the Kefen has specific dimensions and layering rules for draping on the body. One piece called the Hijab for the head, another piece the Qamees which is worn like a shirt to cover the bosom, the Izaar which is wrapped around the waist and the Lifaafa to cover the whole body, all of which are then enclosed in the final layer called the Kefen. 

My artwork serves as a reminder that no matter what we possess in this world, rich or poor, all of us return to the heavenly realm in the same way that we arrived. 

My artwork is made of a series of reflective squares, hung to represent the 5 pieces of cloth which make up a deceased person's Kefen. Behind these, the white cloths of the real Kefen are mirrored onto its fragmented surface. The reflective nature of the work means that the combination of light and wind will create sparkling light patterns on the surrounding surfaces, making us more aware of the sunlight and breeze which we feel on our skin when we are alive. 

I invite you to stop, to discover, to walk through and around the work and to see your own body mirrored onto the artwork as a fragmented self. A point of contemplation, grieving and self-reflection both literally and conceptually.