Simla Civelek (b. Istanbul, Turkey) is a performance artist and filmmaker based in Toronto, Canada. In her work she explores how we carry the record and knowledge of the past in our bodies. Civelek strives to remove emotions from gestures and speech to transform these intangibles. Her videos have been screened at European Cultural Center in 2022 and International Multimedia Arts Festival in 2021. Her performance work has been presented at the FADO Performance Art Centre, 7a*11d International Festival of Performance Art, and Nuit Blanche in Toronto, Thompson Rivers University in Kamloops-BC, Circa in Montréal-QC, Glasshouse Art Life Lab in Brooklyn-NYC, Experimental Action Performance Art Festival in Houston-TX, and OPEN Performance Art Festival in Beijing-China among other venues.

 

Synopsis:
 

"A title appears on black background" is an exploration on the nature of memory. Throughout the narration, translation, graphics, and performance, a doubling occurs. Two languages (Turkish and English) coexist as audio and text / spoken word and written word. Perhaps the answers are embedded in the act of asking the questions and not in answering them.

* trigger warning: images of cutting skin and blood