SACRED TREES

Sacred Trees features the works that Güneştekin has interpreted with the idea of bringing tradition to the present, using the forms reminiscent of the circular structure of trees. The artist establishes his main philosophy by attributing meaning to the statement ek (meaning ‘addition’ in Turkish) in the artwork he named Gelene-ek (‘addition to that which has come’). To the artist, the use of the word gelenek, ‘tradition’, as gelene-ek, creates a scenario in which it carries the tradition and experience, the form whereby tradition is acquired, to the present. Through Selcan Atılgan’s curation, the exhibition highlights the fact that Gelene-ek represents not something left in the past, or something that is preferred to be carried to the present as it is, but a whole that carries on without ruptures or detachments. This constantly changing, multiplying whole can only keep its vitality when it is continuously interpreted. From the past to the present, there is an appendix/extension that is repetitive, that extends, remains, and comes down to us. And the interruption of this appendix is an interruption of thought as well.