YOUR CITY OF MELBOURNE MAGAZINE
GALLIPOLI:
ARTISTS BRING NEW PERSPECTIVE
‘Art has always been a powerful tool in reframing history’.
Gelibolu is the Turkish name of the town and district known to most Australians as Gallipoli. One hundred years after the landing at Gallipoli, the Anzac diggers and the local Turks who took part in the conflict are long gone, but the conflict has left a significant and lasting impression on both sides – impressions that have spread through the generations, touching men and women, young and old. Gelibolu: A Turkish-Australian perspective on Gallipoli is a contemporary art exhibition, produced by the City of Melbourne to look at the narrative from a new perspective. ‘Art has always been a powerful tool in reframing history’, said Gelibolu co-curator, Juliette Hanson. ‘I would like viewers to question their beliefs about nationhood, as informed by popular culture and the media, and to recognise that growing up in a certain place determines a particular and potentially limited understanding of history’. The themes of the exhibition were inspired by a set of interviews conducted with a broad range of people from Melbourne’s Turkish community. ‘Each interviewee was asked the same questions, relating to how they identified themselves culturally, socially and ethnically, and the significance of Anzac Day and the battles of Gallipoli’, she said. The common themes that emerged from the interviews and then formed the basis of the commission for the four participating artists were: the promotion of peace, unified remembrance, memorialisation, commemoration, sacrifice and TurkishAustralian cultural heritage. The artists responded to the challenge in a variety of ways including video installation, oil paintings, a multi-panel work and a woven installation. One of the artists, Turkish-Australian Elif Sezen, who was born in Melbourne and lived in Turkey from 1992 to 2007, said creating her work was like being part of a soul retrieval process, adding to, recalling and retrieving from the collective pool of consciousness. ‘This work aims to acknowledge Anzac Day and bring forth the understanding of compassion, love and respect to both Turkish soldiers and Anzacs who lost their lives or became wounded as a result of the Gallipoli Battle’, said Elif.
Thomas, Metim Gokalp, 2015, oil on canvas
Her work, The Red Poppy, reflects on the national identity following the trauma of war. ‘The red poppy in the centre of this work encourages the viewer to refocus their vision on the eternal cycle of remembrance. The images of plastic toy soldiers evoke a glimpse of irony, underlying war that can become an illusion of individuals and nations, blinding our vision of unity’, she said.
The Red Poppy, Elif Sezen, 2015, digital photographic manipulation on paper
Gelibolu: A Turkish-Australian perspective on Gallipoli is on at the No Vacancy Gallery, QV Building, until 25 April. FOR MORE INFORMATION, VISIT melbourne.vic.gov.au/whatson
MELBOURNE
APRIL - MAY
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