Azade Kӧker

Istanbul I

Artwork Details

Artist

Azade Kӧker

Title

Istanbul I

Date

2014

Medium

Mixed Media on Canvas

Dimensions

170 x 500 cm

Credit Line

Art Jameel Collection

Work Description

Azade Köker explores identity and a sense of belonging in her work, often depicting analogies of cities, multiculturalism, environmental disasters, power structures and borders. Istanbul, her home, offers rich subject matter given its history at the crossroads of Europe and Asia, and being a former capital of both Christian and Islamic empires. With a population twice that of London, Istanbul has in Köker’s lifetime witnessed a radical redevelopment. This transformation is depicted in the cityscape images she creates, such as Istanbul I, a panorama of the city’s landmarks, the domes and the minarets that dominate the old city’s skyline, in juxtaposition with the new skyscrapers that are evidence of the new megalopolis. The sprawling, vast photographic collage is made from hundreds of photographs prepared by Köker, who then digitally adds small figures or animals onto a selection of photos, then prints and cuts the images into separate pieces. She applies delicate, transparent paper, bringing together different sections and imagery to create the whole collage. From afar, the pieces resolve as a unified image, and upon closer inspection, it becomes clear that each photograph has been carefully cut into the shape of human figures. Through this layering and reworking of the surface, Köker disrupts the perfection and legibility of the represented image and denotes the similarities between her process and the traditional application of painting, particularly in defining what it means to be a painter in a hyper accelerated era.

Artist Biography

Azade Kӧker (b.1949, Istanbul) lives and works between Berlin and Istanbul.

As an artist working with painting, sculpture, ceramic and photography, Azade Kӧker proposes hybridity as an inevitable survival mechanism, which is achieved through a subjectivity based on discrepancy, transparency and vulnerability. She creates images that are a blend of nature and human intervention, which she then deconstructs by a repeating pattern on the surface. A professor since 1992, Azade formerly taught at the Braunschweig Technical University, Berlin. She has held several solo exhibitions in Germany and Turkey and her work is included in various public and corporate collections including The British Museum, Berlinische Gallery, Berlin and the Elzig Museum of Contemporary Art, Istanbul. Her sculptures are on display in Curvy Brunnen, Berlin; Bundesgartenschau, Berlin; Frechen Museum, Düsseldorf; and the Turkish Embassy, Tokyo.

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