Merve Güçlütürk
HEAVEN ON EARTH
When I started working on ‘Efsel’ -a place I have never seen before-, I spent a lot of my time researching what has been said about it. There are records of agricultural activities in Efsel, or more commonly known as Hevsel Gardens, since the 3rd century. The biotope located between Tigris River, City Walls and On Gözlü Köprü [Ten Arched Bridge], deemed sacred in certain religious texts, exists in harmony with the never ending poplar and willow trees.
I started by examining works of painters from the Romantic period. When I happened upon Thomas Cole’s painting ‘The Garden of Eden’, I learned that Hevsel is also known as ‘The Garden of Eden’.
When I first saw the photographs Fatma took, I was so moved by the depth of the color green in Hevsel Gardens that, instead of assuming a documenting approach, I wanted to interpret it using a story-like language. I asked myself which moment or detail I would capture if I could have been there and in control of the shutter release. That’s why I wanted to reframe Fatma’s photographs - to move away from documentation. ‘Heaven on Earth’ is a product of my storification of photographs that I thought resembled my artistic practice.
As I was visualizing the story on Hevsel Gardens, which features among the UNESCO World Heritage Sites since 2015, I decided to match the photographs with quotes from Dante’s ‘Paradiso’, with the possibility of contributing to the preservation of cultural values and getting them into circulation in mind.
It is something else to watch the sunrise by the Tigris River, I know that. Nevertheless, I know that I don’t have to go there. I can visualize Hevsel in my mind as I look at these photos.
The birds and the fish… The otter jumping in the river, the soft shelled tortoise trying to rest on the river bank, the weasel getting ready to hunt, and the fox running… Although you cannot see them in the photographs, it is a unique experience to know the biological diversity is hidden somewhere under the green flora.
As Dante put it:
“More is permitted to our powers there
than is permitted here, by virtue of
that place, made for mankind as its true home.”
(Divine Comedy, Paradiso, Canto I, 55-57, tr. Mandelbaum)
PROJECT TEAM: MERVE GÜÇLÜTÜRK (İZMİR) & FATMA ÇELİK (DİYARBAKIR)
