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Hive

March - April 2023
ŞIRNAK, TEKİRDAĞ
Traveling Exhibition: ŞIRNAK, MARDİN, ANKARA, ISTANBUL, TEKİRDAĞ 

Two women artists from Turkey who live in vastly different dialogues and circumstances. They continue to create and teach in their respective cities. They question the shifting dynamics within art and act according to their geographical circumstances. The environment changes them, and they in turn change their environment. They lead sheltered lives in Şırnak and Tekirdağ. They share similar anxieties about the ecology of the planet. They are both very similar and different from each other. For them, the fact that they enjoy these differences is not so different from their existence in this anthropocentric and overly politicized world, and they can’t separate this existence from their eco-anxiety.

As a project, Hive originates from the artists themselves. Therefore, in essence, everything is intertwined: The differences and the similarities between Şırnak and Tekirdağ, geographical concerns and ecological issues. Beyza, Aslıhan and the bees from different cultures make up this project. They all want to create freely and complete their natural cycle as they are meant to do. They want to take this project to different cities so that they feel less alone. Because in other cities, they might have the opportunity to come closer to each other through inspiration.

With all these ideas in mind, the Hive project examines democracy and social order through the metaphor of a bee hive. Instead of talking, they want to show by doing and creating. Sculptures by Beyza and Aslıhan will move on and go through another creative process in another bee hive in the next location. The project will have many participants and producers thanks to these bee colonies.

The consequent traveling exhibition will be designed in a way to reach people where they are. They will ensure the work will visit the viewers, not the other way around.

Beyza Durhan

Even though she was born and raised in Ankara, Beyza Durhan has first-hand experience with village life. Thanks to her father and grandfather who had been beekeepers, she has observed natural cycles through bees. During her studies  at Hacettepe University’s Painting Department, she started seeking exploitation-free, ecological models of production in collaboration with bees. Currently, she refuses to take anything the bees produce and rather works on building new structures with them. Durhan works as a research assistant at Şırnak University while continuing her PhD in painting at Hacettepe University.

 Aslıhan Mumcu

Born in 1994, Aslıhan Mumcu has a degree in Arts and Crafts Teacher Education from Marmara University, and a master’s degree from Namık Kemal University Painting department. Currently, she volunteers at the H. Avni Öztopçu atelier’s ders BELGELİĞİ,teaching art education, nature and philosophy. She also teaches kids of different ages about ecology and art education at Yeşil Akademi, her studio in Tekirdağ. She remains in close contact with nature through her independent art practice.

This page is published on 1 June 2022.
Last update: 8 June 2022