The exhibition “An Unusual Friendship” by Mine Konakci at BAUART-Gallery is the result of an investigation over a long time.
“As I've started researching the eight-month long Gallipoli Campaign I was surprised to discover that there were incidents of exchanging cigarettes, matches and chocolate between the Turkish and ANZAC trenches, where a unique friendship and respect was mutually formed through enduring the same arduous conditions”, the artist states.
With this project Mine Konakçı draws a direct line from the Battle of Gallipoli into the present time. She takes portraits of the descendants of the erstwhile combatants together with projections of a black-and-white portraits of the respective ancestor.
Thus the artist shows us how much the past always belongs to our present time and that ultimately everybody carries the responsibility for a peaceful world. The countries which participated in the Battle of Gallipoli became partners and friends a long time ago. The soldiers of both sides, even though enemies in battle, could not uphold unwaveringly personal enmity, as the artist has found out. In this exhibition, Mine Konakçı brings both sides again together in An Unusual Friendship.
The exhibition shows 20 large-formatted fine art prints, as well as a digital slide show with more details to the persons in the portraits and with original quotations.
Mine Konakçı
AN UNUSUAL FRIENDSHIP/ Remembering Gallipoli
BAUART Gallery 8 April – 24 May 2015
Opening 8 April, 18:30 BAU Galata Campus 4th Floor Kemeraltı Caddesi 24 Istanbul – Karaköy [email protected]
Tel.: +90 212 3815950
Visiting hours Everyday: 10:00 - 20:00
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