An exhibition focusing on past

Monday, May 2, 2011

VERCİHAN ZİFLİOĞLU

ISTANBUL – Hürriyet Daily News

Artist Erhan Arık has turned an inspiring dream into a photographic exhibition titled 'Horovel,' showing images of Turkish and Armenian human portraits from border villages. The exhibition opens on Friday at Tütün Deposu in Istanbul’s Tophane district and will have a great influence on visitors

Erhan Arık's exhibition ‘Horovel’ includes human portraits from Turkey and Armenia.

Armenians try to remember bitter memories while the people in Turkey try to forget them, said artist Erhan Arık who has turned an inspiring dream into a photographic exhibition titled “Horovel,” showing images of Turkish and Armenian human portraits from border villages. The exhibition opens on Friday at Tütün Deposu in Istanbul’s Tophane district and will have a great influence on visitors.

Born in the southeastern Turkish province of Ardahan, Arık took photos in 13 border villages in Turkey and 10 border villages in Armenia over a period of six months and examined the historical memory. “Armenians were enemies to me; even their bread should have been taken from their hands. We were living in an Armenian house. Even though the house was owned by Armenians, I though we had the right to seize their property,” Arık told the Hürriyet Daily News.

He said a dream transformed his perception. “After Armenians left, I was born and grew up in this village house in Ardahan just like the other members of my family. We were using the oven section of the house as a barn. When I was 25, I saw a man in my dream and he said, ‘This house was ours, my children were playing in this room, my wife was cooking in this oven, but you turned it into a barn.’ I was impressed by this dream and decided to research Armenians.”

Arık said the dream might look like a utopia to some people but it really impressed him and showed him a different way. “My father is a Muslim and I told this dream to him. He was influenced by it, too, and cleaned the barn. Now we go to this house in summer only.”

Remembering – being remembered

While taking the photos Arık realized how people resemble each other in Turkey and Armenia. “Yes they look like each other physically but their thoughts and feelings are different. Those in Armenia try to remember bitter memories while the people in Turkey try to forget them,” he said. The images from Turkey and Armenia are exhibited in separate rooms for this reason.

“In this way I can explain two different memories to the audience. There is pain and tears in one part of the memory, and emptiness and silence in the other,” he said.

Arık defined the events as a tragedy. “You can name this pain however you like. Even if only one person died or only one person was forced to leave their homeland, as a human, this should be questioned.”

Arık said Turkish people were seized by hatred caused by prejudices and resistance created by official history. “It is very hard to progress unless you confront pain. There is real pain and we need to share it.”

Speaking about the exhibition’s name, “Horovel,” Arık said, “One day while speaking to Pakrad Öztukyan of daily Agos newspaper, he asked me if I knew the meaning of ‘horovel.’ I did not know it and he said, ‘Your father is a farmer, go and ask him.’ My father told me the songs farmers sing when working the field are called ‘horovel.’ ‘It is an old Turkish word,’ he said. But I learned ‘horovel’ was an Armenian word; my father hesitated to tell me about this fact.”

“In the exhibition, I question myself, my faith in the past and the pain people experienced on this land,” he said.

The exhibition “Horovel” will run through June 4. Besides photos, a documentary film made by Arık will also be shown during the exhibition.