Artist from Armenian diaspora invites Turkish viewers 'to talk openly'

Artist from Armenian diaspora invites Turkish viewers 'to talk openly

Monday June 21, 2010

VERCİHAN ZİFLİOĞLU

ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News

In her exhibition showing at the Tütün Deposu in Istanbul's Tophane neighborhood, an artist from the Armenian diaspora addresses identity, gender and existential aspects of life. The show includes previously unseen video footage of Hrant Dink that artist Helin Anahit filmed in 2005

The halting of diplomatic protocols between Turkey and Armenia has not ended the cross-cultural dialogue between Turkish and Armenian artists, with Istanbul welcoming many artists from the Armenian diaspora within the last year.

One of these artists is Helin Anahit, who migrated to England 20 years ago and now lives in London. Anahit recently opened a project that she began in 2006 at the Tütün Deposu in Istanbul’s Tophane neighborhood. The name of the exhibition, “Açık Açık Konuşmak,” invites viewers “Talking Openly.”

The show includes a previously unseen video, a kind of historical documentary in which Agos editor-in-chief Hrant Dink, who was assassinated in 2007, talks sincerely about Turkish-Armenian relations.

Even though she is from the Armenian diaspora, Anahit said she never cut her ties with Turkey. “I belong to both London and Istanbul,” she said. “It is impossible for me to cut ties with either side.”

While the exhibition highlights Armenian life in Istanbul, Anahit said it is not exclusively about being an Armenian but also addresses existential aspects of life. “I am a minority in Turkey and a Turk in the Armenian diaspora. This is why there is exclusion on both sides, but it is not important because I do not define myself through political identity,” she said. “I am a human first.”

Anahit said she had installed the exhibition in a shape reflecting the design of an Armenian cathedral in the eastern province of Kars. “The Kars cathedral has eight columns, unlike other Armenian cathedrals,” she said. “I wanted to interpret this special structure through the eye of an artist and include it in the exhibition.”

Viewers in the middle of a circle

The exhibition, which runs until the end of June, surrounds visitors in a circular shape right from the moment they enter. Male and female voices meld together and become meaningless. Where screens have been placed in the octagonal area on the first floor, viewers pass from the middle of the circle in order to become a part of the exhibition.

Even though the concept and subject matter of this exhibition had not been established when the exhibited video footage began to be shot in 2006, the speeches in the videos complement each other well. Explaining that participants were not asked any questions, Anahit said, “To question means to ask for a reply and I did not want to orient them.”

The artist said she had spoken with 48 people for the project, and explained how she connected the speeches to each other as if they were natural conversations. “I watched each of the speeches and reduced them to eight people,” she said. “I found the connections between speeches and brought them together.”

Heart between bloody fingers

Anahit said she paid attention to having equal numbers of men and women. “One day I was reading an ancient book at a library. Primitive drawings drew my attention. Some of them were more feminine and some were more masculine,” she added. “Actually, these drawings became the main idea of this exhibition.”

In a video installation on the second floor, viewers see a living heart beating between bloody fingers. There are two more video installations on the same floor. The one named “Hareket” (Action) evokes emotional feelings. Shot in Balat, the video features a long cloth hanging out to dry. While the cloth moves randomly with the wind, the sounds of a bell are heard. “I wanted visitors to arbitrarily infer when watching this video,” Anahit said, explaining her own feelings about the work: “I feel the purification of soul.”

After its Istanbul run, the exhibition will travel to many cities in Anatolia, first to Diyarbakır and later to Antakya, both in the country’s southeast. A Turkish/English book accompanying the exhibition has also been released.