Can Anyone Hear Me?

July 2023 - July 2024
ANKARA, HATAY

Can Anyone Hear Me? is a question asked to hear a sound. The response is either a sound or silence. With an anthropocentric perspective, the sound one expects to hear is generally human voice or sound of something human-made. However, this question, when asked within the scope of this project, is for hearing the sound of the nature. It focuses on the sound of the nature, birds, water, trees and stone, which we cannot hear anymore.

One of the reasons why we cannot hear the sound of the nature is the process and consequences of unplanned urbanization. This process is summarized by the structure of urbanization, which is discriminating and enslaving rather than being inclusive. Therefore, urban and the sound/silence and view of the nature do not overlap. This fact explains all natural disasters through the urban-nature interaction. Through such perspective, the sound of nature turns into an expression. Within the scope of the project, said expression covers two separate locations in Ankara and Antakya, which represent two points of view, the urbanization process and post-destruction, respectively.

Mileyha Bird Paradise, located in the Samandağ district of Antakya, where the earthquakes on the 6^th of February devastated both the urban and the nature, is a location that was indirectly impacted by said natural disaster. Living and non-living nature, whose habitat is under threat due to disposal of the rubble of buildings ruined by the earthquake, takes a hit due to unplanned destruction after the one it took because of unplanned urbanization.

The other leg of the project is the Seğmenler Park, located right in the city center of Ankara, a valley covering an area of 57,250 m², through which the Kavaklıdere river streams. In time, this natural habitat turned into a place surrounded by boulevards and buildings, while the natural habitats and water resources within the park deteriorated.

Delving into the consequences suffered by natural habitats because of unplanned urbanization and unplanned destruction, the project creates an archive of sound and silence through the violence inflicted by humanity on the nature, and it does so by turning down the volume of the anthropocentric perspective and trying to hear the sound of the nature. It eventually highlights the fact that despite sound and silence has different representations and meanings in these two regions, the outcome is the representation of the same domination and destruction.

Gözde Mulla

Gözde Mulla (1986, Akşehir) completed her undergraduate degree at the Hacettepe University Faculty of Fine Arts Painting Department, subsequently receiving her graduate and Doctor of Arts degrees from the same department. She concluded her Doctor of Arts thesis, revolving around the “home” concept because of frequent changes of place in her life, with an exhibition at her home on a warm June day in 2019. With her creation practice exhibiting a reflection of her life, the artist had the opportunity to independently approach art from different perspectives. She continues such approach as an actively-creating artist and writer. In addition, she utilizes her experience in art direction in the position of press coordinator in an art gallery. Her review, critic and memoir articles, as well as her academic articles in the area of art-culture were published in various printed and digital magazines. Working with both traditional materials and the new media, the artist relates paper and pencil with the concept of void which is at the foundation of her creations, and specifies this as the ground zero of both life and space. Her project utilizing the audio medium, a new addition to her creation practice since one year, is granted support by the European Union project CulturCIVIC: Culture and Art Support Program Artistic Creation Fund in 2023. She continues creating artwork addressing the concepts of space, void and threshold, as well as writing articles on current art in Ankara, until any change occurs.

This page is published on 7 December 2023.