When The Gods Have Been Done (ongoing)

Porcelain tiles, cotton rope, 16mm projector with looper

This ongoing research looks ar the climate crisis through the historical and anthropological evolution of human’s relationship with nature. The field research of the project was carried out in West Phrygia (Western Central Anatolia) and the Aegean region of Türkiye. The route followed currently active mining sites for coal, gold and granite as well as the remains of shrines built for Cybele, the archaic goddess of Anatolia. Cybele was believed to maintain the balance between wildlife and human settlements. Her shrines were positioned at the peaks and slopes of mountains to express the unreachable power of the divine. By comparing the historical and contemporary landscape, the work examines the shift from worshipping the land to its commodification.

Photo Credit: Kayhan Kaygusuz

Photo Credit: Kayhan Kaygusuz

The installation in Istanbul SAHA Studios included a six minute loop of 16mm analogue film projected on a custom made porcelain screen. The screen was created with custom made porcelain tiles which were tied to each other in a grid form hanging in the middle of the space. The tiles were produced using the outer layer of dried luffa plant which was dipped in liquid porcelain and then fired in ceramic kiln. By overlaying the porcelain soil from Western Anatolia with the landscape footage captured in the same region, the work gets materially layered with meaning.  The repetitive and mechanic sound of the analogue projector fills up the space and captures the focus of the viewer. 

The two images visible at first glance to this found album are a Cybele shrine in Phrygian valley and a granite mining site next to a concrete factory in the Dardanelles. The analogue photographs from the field trip comes together with two interviews; a volunteer from Muçep (Muğla Environment Platform) and with one of the leading figures of the Akbelen Forest resistance. There are photographs from archeological sites of Phyrigian Valley, Pergamon, an antique granite mine in Dardanelles along with coal mining site in Akbelen, Milas and gold mining site in Lapseki in Çanakkale. The viewer is invited to sit with the album, flipping through the photographs and to read about the struggles that the local communities have been facing with. 

Photo Credit: Kayhan Kaygusuz