Photo: flufoto (Barış Aras & Elif Çakırlar)
Yasemin Özcan’s fifth solo exhibition, Wet Areas, offers a captivating exploration of everyday objects, cultural symbols, and personal narrative, all filtered through the artist’s intimate search for a new home. Curated by Eda Berkmen, the exhibition takes its title from a term Özcan frequently encountered during her house-hunting journey: “wet areas”. In real estate jargon, these refer to spaces like kitchens and bathrooms, constantly exposed to water. However, in Özcan’s hands, the phrase gains deeper, more layered meanings, reflecting themes of impermanence, fluidity, and the often-overlooked spaces that shape our lives. Central to her work are subtle references to Alevi traditions – a religious and cultural heritage from Turkey, marked by rituals of water, light, and transformation. Özcan reinterprets these traditions through everyday objects, exploring themes of heritage, memory, and the passage of time.
The wall installations, featuring written text, evoke the pattern of bathroom tiles, while nearby, a delicate table holds a potted plant beside black-and-white plates inscribed with text. On the wall, photographs of a three-leafed basil plant in a pot – set against the silhouettes of the Bosphorus or barren earth – highlight Özcan’s use of humour to subtly critique urbanization.
It is a small, yet thoughtful exhibition.
Alexandra de Cramer
Photo: flufoto (Barış Aras & Elif Çakırlar)
Issue 66, December 2023
Turkey’s Centenary Issue
