Asli Ozdemir

"REFÜKT"

The first art project i created," Refükt ", was composed in Istanbul a few months ago. The name " Refükt ", is constructed simply by writing down the alphabet and picking out letters randomly, kind of like a "letter collage''. It doesn't mean anything, it is only a symbol for the randomness of the form and concept of my work which is basically my own story.

The idea of telling a story about myself was in my mind for a long time. All the literature i wrote up until now were entirely personal. I enjoyed my personal stories, and I wanted to take a look at the bigger picture this time.

The individuals in an entity, the surroundings they couldn't detach from and an unfolding story of existence would summerly define these collages.

The process of writing the stories about the collages, progressed almost simultaneously with the finalization of the artworks and effected each other. To compose a writing for a visual artwork is a complex situation even for its creator. To tell the observer what to think about an artwork has always been antipathetic for me. That's why i constructed this writing as a personal story of making the collages.
In my twelve years of musical education, i was always told that practice came before theory. But i believe that, what directs us for the action is the existing thought itself , the starting point, which can also be called as the theory. That's why i am being honest as i can be when i am explaining the collages.

During my education in music school in Istanbul, an important Traditional Turkish music composer Selahattin Icli, used these words to define composition :
" To construct an unknown using known pieces. " and for art " an unknown beauty. "
I think i achieved to construct a new unknown beauty using myself, where i live, and the consequences i am in, as much as possible.

-NUDITY, RELIGION AND PUBLIC PLACES

As you can see, almost every piece contains a building or a street and an image of me, usually half naked.

The story of these pieces are as personal as they are general.

My naked body stuck between buildings, or sitting nude on a street simply states that i love exposing my sexuality in public places. But that is not the only reason for this nudity.

The problem about nudity in a muslim society (where i come from) is that everybody judges you according to the traditional religious norms of the amount of clothing you put on. If you do not wear chaste and decent costumes, it usually means that you are a sinner, an exhibitionist and even more, you deserve to be assaulted and executed according to what you wear.

In a society, where women are castigated according to their marital status,
In a society where the murdering of an illegitimate child by his/her own mother is an extenuating circumstance for the mother,
In a society where a rapist gets released from prison with the condition to get married to the victim and traditional chastity murders are considered deserving,
I simply tried to express a neurotic state of mind that belonged to a life i left behind, an identity i was ashamed of, a mental sickness that i was made believe was normal, a sexuality that i had never known how it should be, and a birth certificate with my religion written on it without my approval.

-MEANINGLESS TYPOGRAPHY

Some parts of my work contain some meaningless typography. These works are designed almost as traditional fashion magazine layouts. The typographies i cut, belong to some famous fashion brands but i manipulated them to create meaningless words. They are the works depicting fashion's industrial side.

This was not an act against the idea of fashion, i can't ignore such a significant subject which itself is an understanding, and a certain way of thinking.

The most impressive aspect about fashion designers that fascinates me is that they sell life styles. So, the creation is not the only thing they create. Every year, they decide on how we are going to live depending on what they produce and how we are going to feel by buying and wearing them.

When it comes to advertising a product, there is a perfect scene in a fashion magazine telling you how to use it. This scene shows what kind of a person you will become by using them. These scenes have stories, like a woman laying on a bed alone, looking at a certain point with a certain emotion on her face. There is a bag or a perfume bottle somewhere around, the brand's name with a certain typography, maybe some shoes or a dress and the hair and the make up, everything is just perfect and you want to be in her position.

The feeling that i was trying to accomplish by doing these collages is similar but I just wanted to brake the feeling of perfection. My portraits and body parts are deformed and the buildings around me are generally destructed and manipulated. There is nothing I can sell but my life style and myself, i don't wear anything and i don't look happy or adorable. So the concepts become as meaningless as the typography. When they come together, they illustrate the fashion industry as i see it and are "traditional" self-portraits in their own way.

-HIDING UNDER THE TESCO BAG

Wearing a bag over my head is basically symbolizing the feeling of hiding . What i wanted to express powerfully in these artworks, is the irony of hiding and showing at the same time.

This is a reaction to the environment around me, to the people who think they are against pop culture but actually are a part of it and to all consumerists who claim to be against consumerism. There is nothing more stereotyped than thinking that you are unique. Eventually almost everybody goes to Tesco to buy some smoked, sliced back bacon.

I have never thought that i was special and never denied that i am also a part of that culture. I want to be rich, i want to be popular but even if i would, it would not change the truth that i am ordinary. I am angry. I am full of anger to everybody, to my parents, to my friends, to my principle, to my neighbor but i don't feel like wanting to be a member of an association made up of people who hates everything, just like me. I don't want to be against something or agree with something just because it makes me feel different and special. Like i said before, i go to Tesco to buy my bacon like almost everybody.

Wearing a Tesco bag over my head is for hiding from all, the society, the rules, the religion, the government, the politics, the critiques, without playing the role of the cliche "anti" individual.