Hussein Chalayan, 1970

Born in Nicosia, Cyprus Hussein Chalayan’s family left Cyprus and settled in England in 1982. He graduated from Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design in London in 1993.

Hussein Chalayan is a world-renowned innovative figure in the fields of contemporary art and design with several “Designer of the Year” awards in the UK, where he lives and works. Chalayan, who has “made clothing into a living philosophy,” reflects his ideas and concepts in his fashion design as well as his artworks and exhibitions. He conceives his fashion shows as performances and art exhibitions and designs costumes for dance performances and operas. He also produces short films, sculptures, videos, and sound installations.

“I Am Sad, Leyla”, directly centers on music, which it explores as a cultural form. The work features a sculpture of famous Turkish pop singer Sertab Erener and Chalayan’s audio and video recordings of her. Accompanied by an orchestra, the singer performs, in a manner we are not accustomed to hearing from her, the song by composer Sadettin Kaynak “I Am Sad, Leyla” (Üzgünüm Leyla), which is a prominent example of classical Turkish music. While performing this Ottoman-style song backed by an orchestra of traditional instruments, Erener is wearing a contemporary costume designed by Chalayan. Sertab Erener is like a spirit animated through the digital images projected on the face of her sculpture. With her voice projected in the room at the back and images of the orchestra playing by itself, she is like a disembodied and decontextualized spirit, which suddenly gains the ability to speak.