SENA BAŞÖZ
CYCLES OF NATURE:
Continuity and Equilibrium
2018-2019
This project investigates loss and is centered around the continuity between life and death.
The organism’s self-repair and the balance nature obtains in the long run constitute the backbone of this narrative questioning what it means to remember and forget in this context.
One of the resources that inspired this project was David Ruelle’s book “Chance and Chaos”. In the book, Ruelle states that tiny changes that are formed in the structure of the turbulence can lead to a much bigger change in time. This series of work researches the effects of natural elements like wind and water. The fragile nature of these works that are alive and open to change makes these works the subject of turbulence.
Ivy
2018
Fine art prints on aluminium, ivy, glass jar and water
50x31,5 48x27,5 and 36x46 cm
The ivy from the artist’s home connects to three cropped images from a black and white family photo of the artist. The ivy with its climbing and resistant nature connects these fragmented images, 30 years of time gap, life and death. The work relates to the transposition of womanhood and tradition in the family; natures regenerates. The roots of the ivy is in water instead of soil, yet the ivy is green and lively. It relates to living a different womanhood in comparison to previous generations, adapting to new conditions, being disconnected from the land and being more mobile.
Feet
2018
Styrofoam, glass container and water
The life size feet of the artist carved out of styrofoam float on water in a glass jar. Their lightness prevents them from sinking. They have found a way to carry on. This is a humble sculpture of miracles or being able to proceed at times when its impossible to flow with life’s rhythm.
Forough
2018
Dijital Print on tracing paper, fans
Dimensions variable
Vimeo link: https://vimeo.com/298958875
Forough is composed of hundreds of photographs of taxidermied birds from the collection of Natural History Museum of Istanbul St.Joseph French High school. Freres started building this collection towards the end of 19th century in then Ottoman Empire capital Istanbul to make a record of the natural resources of the region. They continued building this collection until 1960’s in Turkey with Anatolian animals. The photographed and decoupaged portraits of birds are printed on tracing paper and 2 industrial fans are creating an artificial wind that makes these images flap without leaving their surface. This creates a sound reminiscent of bird’s wings and a motion like murmurations.
Forough is a flying archive, representing individual lives that have been restricted, left devoid of freedom or lost, being reduced to a single photograph. The title of the work comes from the first name of Iranian women poet Forough Farrokhzad and her famous line: “Keep the flight in mind, the bird may die”.
The Eraser
2018
Sound Design: Yalın Özgencil
Styrofoam, silicone, antenna and recorded sound
85x32x20 cm
The sound of the eraser:
The Eraser with an antenna is a machine which tries to forget but also remember at the same time. It is a portrait of George Perec as much as an auto-portrait of the artist herself. Perec was a survivor of second world war who encountered intolerable losses due to the war. He wrote about his life heavily without recalling the negative events directly. In his book W or The Memory of a Childhood, Perec writes about the limited amount of memories he has of his childhood and a dystopian imaginary land called W that he used to fantasize about as a child. An eraser is depleted as it erases. This work undertakes forgetting as a coping mechanism with trauma. Being in form of a common Pelikan eraser, a familiar object from 80’s and early 90’s, this work has a sound looking for the right frequency, signaling to find, to be found, reunited and reached.
Astronomical Movements
2019
26’ creative documentary film
Astronomical Movements is a creative documentary on the workings of the universe.
Veli Altıntaş, a retired geography teacher from Denizli, a small town in Turkey, explains the workings of the universe on a high school level. His lectures from his living room lead into the life of a family who wears planet masks on their faces. The life of the family is composed of improvised shootings of ordinary events. Now and again, tension and conflict experienced outside interrupt the routine of the family but life goes on in its great order.
The movements of the Earth, the Moon and the Sun are independent from all suffering and joy on Earth. Astronomical Movements makes its way through this contradiction.