gövdeler | stems

Residents, visitors, and others make up various and diverse faces encountered throughout Istanbul. All portraits are organized through personal connections, emphasizing the ways in which we form and expand community, and our influence within it. In this installation, each portrait is attached to the idea of place, grounding the presence of each participant in behavioral patterns that emerge, systematically or randomly, through their connection to locations in the city and people in the city.  

part one

beginning with the artist, six chosen individuals are asked to sit for a short portrait. They, in turn, invite others to sit for a portrait, all of which are included in a larger installation. 

 part two

portraits are hung and connections mapped via colored thread that represents each original participant, leading their portrait to that of the people they invited to join the project.

 part three

beginning during the opening on Mahalla Festival, visitors are invited to sit for portraits during performance hours. These portraits are added to the installation and connected to a new self-portrait of the artist.

This installation was exhibited as part of the Mahalla Festival 2021: Murmuration, at Yeldeğirmeni Sanat Merkezi.