Totem
2024
Steel, acrylic, earrings, wrenches, hex bolts.
Totem is a laser-cut steel emblem, fixed on the wall with wrenches and punctured with earrings from the bazaar in Istanbul. The shape comes from a patch found in a box full of lace, passed down to the artist from her grandmother for when she gets married. The design does not reflect Turkish traditional motifs at all, it might very well be Celtic in origin. The presence of this patch in the artist’s prematurely prepared dowry felt irrelevant, prompting her to contemplate generational trauma and immigration.
In Turkish, totem can become a verb, to do something supersitiously to change the outcome. Like watching a football game standing up the entire time for the team you’re supporting to win.
2024
Steel, acrylic, earrings, wrenches, hex bolts.
Totem is a laser-cut steel emblem, fixed on the wall with wrenches and punctured with earrings from the bazaar in Istanbul. The shape comes from a patch found in a box full of lace, passed down to the artist from her grandmother for when she gets married. The design does not reflect Turkish traditional motifs at all, it might very well be Celtic in origin. The presence of this patch in the artist’s prematurely prepared dowry felt irrelevant, prompting her to contemplate generational trauma and immigration.
In Turkish, totem can become a verb, to do something supersitiously to change the outcome. Like watching a football game standing up the entire time for the team you’re supporting to win.