“I produced my very own maps of the world, as I perceive it.”

Lately I am occupied with maps. Through the depiction of the world, continents and borders, I reflect on the space we occupy on earth, our limits and the broader notion of identity. A book on Piri Reis, an Ottoman Admiral and cartographer, which I bought for my dad, who is also from the Navy, got me with its unusual depictions of the world.

Old naval maps of 11th century to 16th century were created by sailors and explorers depending on the limited geographical information, on prior maps of their times and on the journeys they made, but mostly depending on the curiosities and perceptions of the mapmakers. Ibn Hawqal in 10th century, Mahmud Al-Kashgari in the 11th century, Piri Reis and Andrea Bianco in the 15th century, Matrakçı Nasuh in the 16th century used their own ways of depicting the areas they were interested; all are very interesting in terms of graphics and contents. All these different depictions enabled me to question the independence in the forms of markings and how everyone could perceive the very same world differently.

While connecting the past with present, I produced my very own maps of the world, as I perceive it. Inspired by the curiosities, precision and authenticity of the old mapmakers, I start an expedition into myself and intend to locate points in my subconscious mind. The maps I produced on textured paper with colored ink borrow the forms of old mapmakers. They are depicting my relationship with the world, some of its inhabitants and the city I live in. They are quite shiny, fresh and brand-new looking on purpose as I wanted them to warn out in time and gain the mystic forms of all the old manuscripts.

Although mostly not inscribed, the series of maps all depicts specific places and routes. I named them after these places, and some of the maps have markings in Ottoman Turkish. I intended to make the viewer be curious about the routes, and invite them to freely explore where the marks would take them.

Please click to see some works from Past Meets Present.