AND WITHIN MY BODY,
ANOTHER BODY
FATMA ÇÄ°FTÇÄ°, MEREY ÅžENOCAK, TUÄžÇE GÄ°ZEM ERTÜRK
BE Contemporary presents the "And within my body another body" exhibition, showcasing the diverse artworks of Fatma Çiftçi, Merey Åženocak, and TuÄŸçe Gizem Ertürk. Inspired by the renowned poet Jane Hirshfield's poem "Within This Tree," the exhibition will be open to art enthusiasts from April 6 to May 25.
"And within my body, another body" explores the potential for interaction beyond the consumption-focused relationship established with nature, history, and the self. It guides visitors on a journey in search of hidden pasts and lost narratives within the present moment.
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Artist and academic Fatma Çiftçi shapes her artistic practice around "glass" and collaborates with it. Reflecting the sensitivity required to work with glass in her works, Çiftçi demonstrates the same care when selecting materials for her glassmaking, sometimes incorporating soil and rock fragments collected from the ruins of ancient cities, and other times including the toughest minerals on Earth in her process. In her artistic practice, the artist delves into the history of the world, emphasizing that glass plays as significant a role in the creative process as herself.
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Merey Åženocak, primarily focusing on installations and sculptures, brings to life tales hidden within nature's collective memory. With meticulous craftsmanship using materials like hempcrete and the traditional plastering technique tadelakt, Åženocak invites viewers to witness these stories in three-dimensional splendor. Her exploration extends to nature's innate creativity, employing carefully curated elements ranging from foraged plants and stones to other transformed materials.
Abstract expressionist painter TuÄŸçe Gizem Ertürk navigates the dark corridors of the self, constructing a hazy world with memories and narratives trapped within the body. Inviting exploration of lost identities within the individual, she promises life to identities hidden in the subconscious, away from awareness.
In line with the closing lines of Hirshfield's poem, "there is no other body / there is no other world," the exhibition, guided by this principle, initiates an investigation to mend humanity's broken connections with the self, history, and the environment. "And within my body, another body" highlights the subject who listens to and conveys lost narratives, rather than merely consuming in the face of intertwined shared existences.
*Within This Tree
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Within this tree
another tree
inhabits the same body;
within this stone
another stone rests,
its many shades of grey
the same,
its identical
surface and weight.
And within my body,
another body,
whose history, waiting,
sings; there is no other body,
it sings,
there is no other world.
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Jane Hirshfield