Unmanned Land
Imaginary Beings of the Pandemic – Dedicated to Jorge Luis Borges
The UNMANNED LAND series was produced during a period when, due to the merciless disease without borders, people did not even want to be in the same place, let alone shake hands.
The unsettling loneliness… Empty streets… Evening news where the numbers of deaths only remain as dull statistics… The inability to know where the enemy is, never being sure if it has slipped through the door or not, and witnessing everything losing its value and fading away.
These works bear witness to such a period. Industrial paper with a silicon surface was used, and color pigments melted in alcohol were applied to create the figures, which were then fixed with shellac and epoxy.
It was noticed that these figures stand independently from the setup or the theme, with the exception of the main source of inspiration: the unmanned land. Similar to the desolate streets surrounded by death, the drawings also had to be devoid of human presence, except for two later additions.
Great care was taken to ensure that the 14 works produced in total reflect the mood of the day. As a result, while some works include highly figurative objects, others are nothing more than a mere spot. While some paintings can be interpreted as abstract spots, the use of intensely figurative elements in others was not altered, as it was important to preserve their alignment with the nature of the time.
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Related Works
Opened in 2005 in Asmalımescit, Beyoğlu, the ceramics studio is now concluding its journey with its final project, APARLO. The studio has been instrumental in producing projects for the independent artist initiative UWAW.ORG (UnderWaterArtWorks) and has also provided a space for artists from various disciplines. APARLO, created from casting slip and fired at 1050 degrees Celsius, is a limited edition piece with only 70 copies.
UWAW (UnderWaterArtWorks) is an independent art initiative that held its inaugural exhibition in 2001.
It was established with the objective of highlighting topics such as the destructive impact of human activities on nature, underwater life, and water pollution. In 2011, the group organized its first exhibition titled “We Cooked the Sea” featuring four artists. The exhibition took place in the Bodrum district of Muğla and later in the Kaş district of Antalya.
The UWAW (UnderWaterArtWorks) team is gathering around a different theme this time. They have come together to draw attention to the lives lost while trying to cross the Mediterranean Sea in the hope of a better life after being displaced for various reasons. In the video they co-produced, hundreds of bubbles rising from the seabed represent the last breaths, cries, and rebellions of refugees who lost their lives while crossing the Mediterranean.