Circle of Life Sudan-Khartum | 2007
The performance “Circle of Life-Khartum” was made in 2007 in Sudan during the war between North Sudan and South Sudan. It was prohibited to make any kind of performance, taking photos or shooting videos at that time. However, Seyitvan started drawing a big circle in the public space, at the bazaar of the town to demonstrate this place as “the center of the world”. The intention was to draw attention to this geography struggling with chaotic circumstances, violence, and poverty. This circle has a reference to Kurdish Yezidi culture. If a Yezidi person draws a circle around her/himself, s/he cannot go out of the circle unless it is erased. The meaning of the circle here shifts the mainstream belief of “the center”. Why the center of the world has never been acknowledged as a place where there is an ongoing war? With this idea, the artist invited local people to join himself in the circle. This circle then showed how they have been stuck in the inhuman conditions. The performance was recorded with photographic images from various angles.
