10 Oct - 14 Nov 2015
Currents project is centered over the Euphrates, the longest and historically, one of the most important rivers of Western Asia, and the dam built near its shores. The dam, GAP (The Southeastern Anatolia Project), originally promised improvements in living standards, social stability, freedom, hope, exploration, and independence to an impoverished, and often factitious, region. By bringing water to a desiccated region, it enhanced large-scale agriculture, controversially flooding local villages and dramatically changing their diverse, complex, and archaic legacies. While some celebrate the project's economic success as a reflection of modernization, Disli questions if this vision of rapid and pervasive modernization emphasizes benefit to the state over that of local populations. She views this region as an energy field, a liminal space in which her series "Cereyan" will emerge in a poetic form. Comprising photography, installations and videos, this work explores the relationship between people and the landscape as one of mutual influence. Encompassing the exploration of her hometown, as well as Mesopotamia's cultural heritage, the series also highlights a transition in my practice of applying the spiritual concepts of emptiness and interdependence to a universal concern with the environment.
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