The Distance between me and everything
2022
The mold, which completely covers the surface of the body and was taken from the artist by means of elastic polyester material and cut open in the middle, creates a startling effect on the viewer with its realistic details and its image lying on the ground. First of all, the appearance of the human body in front of us, flattened and flattened, almost two-dimensional, triggers an uncanny feeling in the depths of our minds. On the one hand, we see the shadow of a living fellow species and on the other, the traces of its lifeless form. In the sheltered atmosphere of the exhibition space, we are reminded of man’s plundering of nature, of the way he lays the skins of the animals he hunts at his feet like trophies; or of the ever-increasing dose of violence against women. On the other hand, the periodic throwing of the tinder by the snake (or crustaceans such as crabs and crayfish), which has become a symbol of fertility, transformation, procreation, healing, resurrection and overcoming death in different mythologies, also comes to mind. Other associations also come into play; we recall names throughout history who were branded as heretics and killed by flaying for their beliefs, who became religious martyrs and saints, and references to these names in the history of art/literature – such as the lamenting verses about Imad al-Din Nesimî or Michelangelo’s painting of the Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel, in which St. Bartalmay had his self-portrait engraved on his flayed skin. Mehtap’s intense physical pain during the demolding process because she did not apply a lubricating cream on her body beforehand is undoubtedly an ironic joke in this sense.
Erden Kosova