Antakya
Macide Yalçınkaya + Collaboration with Ezgi Aysever
Macide Yalçınkaya is a visual artist and art teacher living in Hatay. She pursues the discovery of patterns that we overlook, or perceive with our senses. She constructs repetitions that are not yet formed into patterns, building meaning and establishing systems which change with each series as they are shaped by different references.
Yalçınkaya’s piece, Kelimelerle evimi yapıyorum (I build my home with words), is a focal piece in the upcoming 2027 exhibition at the Center for Architecture, curated by ACHA, a member of CARRRE. It is the output of one of many workshops that took place in different locations with different people following Türkiye’s 2023 earthquakes, most of whom had lost their homes to the earthquakes. Participants responded to Yalçınkaya’s inquiry as to what word or words best described “home” to them. She then wrote down these words, and later compiled a selection to create an installation.
Kelimelerle evimi yapıyorum (I build my home with words)
The house shown in these images the output of one of many workshops whose participants had lost their homes to the earthquakes. They responded to Yalçınkaya’s inquiry as to what word best described “home” to them, she wrote them down, and later compiled a selection to create an installation.
“After the earthquake, we began to question everything that had previously been a constant and fixed presence in our daily lives. Home, as a space, wasn't just a place that met our need for shelter. It was like a protective circle where feelings of belonging and trust naturally intensified. The houses we've all dreamed of and drawn since childhood are different. But they all share certain common characteristics. Only when elements like walls, roofs, doors, and windows come together can a house be built. The meanings of each of these elements, and the things they remind survivors of, have completely changed after the earthquakes. Each of the components that make up a house has different words that project onto each of us individually. It's impossible to perceive and describe these with our senses. For this, we need metaphors.”
~ Macide Yalçınkaya
Janus Artzine
Macide Yalçınkaya + Ezgi Aysever Collaboration
Janus Artzine is an independent art publication that combines graphic, text and experimental productions by the artist Ezgi Aysever and Yalçınkaya. The Antakya-based project aims to make their products visible and accessible in the public space by creating two different expressions on two sides of the paper, inspired by the image Janus. it develops both personal and collective narratives with their numbers formed around different themes. A special folding technique continues its development as a practice that contributes to various issues ranging from Antakya's cultural memory to jazz music, from the concept of duality to interactive productions; public distribution, collective production and post-disaster cultural recovery processes.
Yakto Mosaic Workshop
Macide Yalçınkaya + Ezgi Aysever Collaboration
The Yakto Mosaic was discovered in 1932 within the ruins of the Yakto Villa in Defne, a suburb of Antakya. Located in Hatay’s Arkeoloji Müzesi (Hatay Archaeology Museum), known for its extensive collection of Roman and Byzantine Era mosaics, it depicts Ariadne being discovered by Dionysus after she was abandoned by Theseus (whom she had guided through the Labyrinth). It also shows hunting scenes and topographical views of Defne and Antakya.
Aysever and Yalçınkaya’s workshops were conducted at the museum with participants creating collages inspired by the Yakto Mosaic. They arranged pieces to tell the history of the city and create a new composition, using yesterday’s story to reimagine today. These re-imagined mosaics speak both to the loss of Antakya’s layered urban fabric (here, its previously-prevalent historic Roman mosaics), and the need for the survivors to heal and have agency in the reconstruction process.