Orient
Piezography, digital prints A0 2020
Filming pigeons on balconies and roofs, gave access to a high and unexpected viewpoint on a part of Istanbul. We see the precious birds and at the same time we see their environment: a woman hanging up laundry, or a breathtaking view over the Bosporus.
During the travelling in public transport between eastern and western outskirts of Istanbul to locate the pigeonkeepers (and being literally in the Orient), the universal theme of orientation came up . While pigeons are masters in orientation, it’s different for a human being finding herself suddenly in a different continent. What is this? How did I get here?
First you learn your surroundings in fragments, after a while you can puzzle them together to a whole. Then you are able to orientate and walk at fast pace like a genuine metropolitan.
This experience of feeling disorientated, resulted in large scale fotoworks of urban fragments, concentrated photographic stills taken from the roofs of Istanbul. They are caleidoscopic see-throughs in a composition of modules, which is very characteristic for my sculptural work. Usually it is for monumental work in public space, but here public space is in the image.
There is a great balance between simplicity and complexity in the prints; from a distance the works are like strong abstract images, but viewed at a closer distance, they open up to new perspectives and see throughs with eye-opening details. It is this back and forth perception that give the works a wonderful ongoing invitation in seeing.
