Lines in Flux: Artists across the ocean
Kiersten Fuhr - Photo and Graphics Manager
Lines in Flux is a collaborative exhibition between six different artists, put together by Kevin Dera, a Turkish American artist born and raised in Adana, Turkey.
Dera is a 2024 Know College graduate with a degree in studio art and environmental studies. His work, which consist mostly of very large drawings, “captures the shifting reality of landscapes as they are transformed by humans and nature.”
On his work in this exhibition, he said the “architectural, cultural, and political changes in the landscape of Turkey after his hometown was struck with a devastating earthquake on February 6, 2023.”
Upon his recent return to Turkey after graduation, Dera hung out with his old friend Derin Su, who took him to a cafe where there were “many kindred and kind souls.” From there he decided to collaborate with them on their experiences of political and social oppression, leading to the Lines in Flux exhibition.
The other artists in this exhibition are Bedia Ekiz (Turkey), Beyza Gökay (Turkey), Derin Su (Turkey), Naya Kirichenko (Ukraine/Istanbul), and Givara Haji (Syria).
Ekiz’s work consists of many charcoal and ink drawings of the landscape around where she lives and grew up. Ekiz said, “In Lines in Flux we explored what kind of cultural web we were able to weave when artists from around the region came together. How is there overlap in our experiences and how do we reflect that? My work in this exhibit shows the documentation of the landscape as well as the erosion of my spirit and emotions.”
Gökay’s work consists of two surreal, abstract oil paintings. “In my oil paintings, the journey of my conscious and my subconscious is a way of therapy for me. I use abstract and surreal language to further these emotions,” said Gökay. “By reflecting the natural world in mind, I create a lush and safe space for myself.”
Su’s work is different from the rest. Her work, a short film titled “Scar Tissue,” addresses an abuse she faced as a minor. She accompanied the Taht audio with seemingly unconnected video footage of her walking around her home and doing mundane activities.
“I think it’s a really meaningful timing that we’ve done this exhibition because it is getting harder and harder each day for us to be heard, to speak our truth. In Turkey as we’re speaking right now,” said Su, “306 students between the ages 18 and 22, such young people, are in jail, unlawfully, just because they used their right to protest against all the countless unlawful stuff the government is doing at the moment and done for the last 22 years. So, I’m glad that we can still send a piece of us across the ocean, and we can still be heard and maybe be understood.”
Kirichenko is an illustrator who’s work consists of two drawings and an animated video of several more of her drawings moving around.
“In my art I’m talking about the kind of sensation, this feeling that all of us have no matter where we are from, this kind of common consciousness that makes us feel connected to something deeper,” said Kirichenko, “the source of life in a way maybe, that when you look at a certain thing, no matter where you’re from, our cultural background, we are feeling the that you are being touched by what we are seeing somewhere very deep.”
Lastly, Haji’s work consists of several collage drawings. He said: “This project was my attempt to trust and find the magic in the sensitive topics I face such as displacement, chaos, and fear. Since I started drawing, I didn’t have the desire to learn the perfect recipe for success, drowning, I just wanted to say something. I take an empty piece of paper, draw on it, then I keep drawing, and then I erase, cutting and layering until it lands somewhere. After I finish a piece the flow of it starts moving. It’s a magical process that I try to transfer to the viewer. Then I can move on.”
Next up for the Len G. Everett Gallery is the Senior Art Exhibition, which has its opening reception Sunday, April 13th from 2 pm to 4 pm and will be up for the remainder of the semester.