Original artwork description:

The artist revives female figures that were censored during the Ottoman period, revealing the missing pieces of history and memories that are on the verge of being erased from social memory. Using lace from his wife Göknil Gümüş Sungurtekin’s now-vanished dowry, he emphasizes handicraft and the memories behind lace in his works. He blends the noble and aesthetic stance of Turkish women in traditional clothing with lace knitting. The artist combines sections of paintings, ornaments, motifs and textures that he previously applied on walls and ceilings with handmade lace. He combines his own memories with lace produced by hand in recent history and the Turkish female figure from distant history, creating a whole of layered memories. While the missing pieces of the past come to life again, he saves them from being forgotten and destroyed. With the work he creates, he emphasizes social memory by benefiting from the transformative power of art and gives it new expressions. By combining these processes, he presents his work with a historical and aesthetic perspective consisting of moments and memories.

Materials used:

lace and oil

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