Although a certain definition of time cannot be made, the concepts such as existence, nonexistence, nothingness and death were examined depending on time; in short everything about human life has evolved depending on time. Except the measurements connected with space such as the sun, the moon and the internal energy states of the atoms the thing concerns us is a concept connected with life rather than this scientificity. Then the time is perhaps a kind of illusion. Despite having uncertainties in, it is a phenomenon that determines the life and the sociality and so today everything is determined by time.
The famous philosopher Heidegger approached the human as a socio-cultural existence in his environment when he defined the time as “The time is not a phenomenon of isolated subject, it is the relationship with everybody else.” Then experiences, memories, remembrances are important although they are very small parentheses in eternity of life. Because they have the traces of the life, quote references about finite existence and the thing, which provides this best, is the photograph.
Photograph is a phenomenon, which accompanies identity, seeks and reminds the past time by the persistence of the created image. The created image is a reflection of real life. This is an astonishing encounter if we think of the earliest years photograph invented. It is a magical and miraculous thing and for this reason you should be prepared knowing this as it happened in this way until the end of the 20th century. Having your photo taken is a very important affair. The body will come out of the definition of subjectivity and it will remain to the future by generalization in continuity and for this reason it must be regarded and prepared for this process.
In fact, this is a value given to life. The pre-process completed by pressing the shutter will be completed with the emergence of the image and depending on time it will remain in the past now. The image is real and the thing it reflects is an image from real life has references belonging with the world which is dominated by the reality. So while the situation is this, what happened to the concept called reality? Is there such a thing as reality? Where is the credibility of the life? These and similar questions are endless. Then we must question the period of time we live, the life, encounters and the art developing depending on this.
The most beautiful example that shows the systematical destruction of the reality of which the last living days we witness are those which happened to the image today. It is the disappearance of the analogic image which is converted into digital image regardless. It must be taken a lesson from those happened to the image, yet our last great inventions are different techniques of image production. .
As today the technology which must function as a reflective gives way to cause everything to have a virtual, touch-operated, informatics, digital \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"reality\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\", the image is obliged to remain as the most insignificant detail of this anthropological revolution.
The example which will make this revolution be possible to be pictured in people’s mind is the photograph which gets a digital view getting rid of the negative strip necessity and giving in to the real world. This process of getting rid of the negative strip and the reality caused a myriad of results in different dimensions. Yet there is no need for a real object because the image of this object can be produced digitally. Taking photograph is not counted as an original action because the image can be photographed over again deleting instantly. The negative copy whose testimony was not been discussed in early days lost this qualification from now on. In the meantime, bathroom printing and distance which separates the object and the image in the negative phase are disabled. The image on the filmstrip which is bathed has been produced by the world and could be capable of regeneration through this strip. But the one which can be seen on the screen is the only one of the plenty of the images. It is a piece of heap which gives in to the operation of the automatic machine. Is it still possible to talk about a photograph when the digital dominates the digital technological format and the computer software dominates the view? 1) Certainly it is not possible. As we think about this theory of Jean Baudrillard, black and white or sepia photographs belonging to the past are important for telling about the realities of life besides they are memories and Pemra Aksoy connects us to the reality of the past via her family photographs, faces us with the indicators belonging to her own life, her own place of residence and makes a memory questioning.
“In this sense understanding topography (this can be the place living in) as a rhetorical is both a cultural and related to more than one emotion. It is cultural; because the moment we started thinking by insulating ourselves from the community we don’t contact with the place in which we are; mostly when we come together other people and when we are doing something together with them we contact with the place in which we are. It is a situation related to more than one emotion; because if we quote a beautiful reference of Stevon Field, as we feel the places, our feelings settle and as the places gain meanings, the feelings gain places. Sensation of a place depends on the complex effects of visual, auditory, and olfactory memories with each other. “ (2) (How modernity forgets, Paul Connerton, Cambridge University Press, 2009.) And Pemra Aksoy transferred the city she lived in with her family to the canvases with the help of photographs and the impact of memories. The reason of the strength, the durability in mind and the impact they created of the pictures which consist of the instant encounters which happened depending on sometimes places, sometimes the general atmosphere and sometimes the people is probably derived from this. In short, there is a systematic thinking fed by memories behind the images. It seems a simple event that the state of taking action of the thought shows its presence as a picture, it is a complex situation having contradictions. With the state of taking action of the thought the structure of which are a lot of questions in contradictory the form of perception, the way of thinking and the image creation of the artist are the reason of that.
Famous thinker, philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre describes the image as follow; “the image is not a washed up perception or sensation, it is also not a pale reflection of the past. The image takes place by the way of abstraction and generalization and also it takes place in the way of thought. So the image is a rethought perception and it is a rationalized perception although it still seems to be grayed partially; it is rationalization of the data which can be made sense.”
(3) When we look through this perspective, the most important feature of the paintings of Pemra Aksoy is to show the face of the time in a romantic and realistic way. The photographic images which are dated to 50-60 years ago described the conditions which determined the life style of that period like the place, the instrument and the clothes. Those create an attractive situation by exposing us to the mood of the people in addition penetrating in to phenomenon of the artist and so this can attract the viewers in the heart.
When we look at the works of art, we face with the surfaces which are formed by different color tonality of the colors between beige and brown or the colors, which are in harmony with them, or the colors which are close to them. Besides this situation creates shallow depth on the surface of the image, it gives a pentur flavor creating different textures. In this situation, the photographic image, which is transferred to the surface, is illustrated and at the same time it conserves the taste which has taken from the photograph. Although in certain dynamism the color harmony of the paintings which the artist made by the help her family pictures from the past imposes strength, compliance and a measured value to the expression, the primary determinant is the figures on the surface.
The effort of the modern painting was created of expanding the accreditation systems, breaking up of sticking to their envelope rather than making a choice between the line or the color and even between the figuration of the things and sign creation and this may require the creation of new materials or new ways of expression, but sometimes it occurs by pre-revising and re-consideration of those which existed in advance. (4) When we look at the issue from this point of view we see that the artist has the thing, which has already shown, and the way to show in harmony by reviewing and reconsidering the thing which has already shown before. This in turn, pulls us from the temporary statuses of our day by oversetting our seeing behavior of the time we live in (of now) and guides us to a depth in relation with the past. These paintings Pemra Aksoy made from the family pictures that narrate the special occasions of her own past can be seen as the manifestations of her own subconscious and her inner debates, and that is why each image is full of references that bear the marks of life experiences.
Historical approach never connotes the individual beaming itself to the past. It is neither possible to step into the other\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s shoes. The individual goes into interpreting without actually changing the moment it lives in and its historicity, and determines the meaning itself. (5) Supporting aesthetical experience and reinterpretation process, it signifies that the artist goes beyond an ordinary way of approach and chooses a new and different way of narration, which is the essence itself that enables works of art to establish a connection between the past and the future. In terms of dialectical logic, this is a Hegelian approach. The bulky patterns the artist created with thick and heavy contours despite the photographic image on the surface are the clear indicators of the unique language the artist sets forth, both in terms of their interference to the photographic image and the way they fill the gaps; and it is such an integrated state that brings works to a point that is deemed modern. This language the artist has created against the simplicity and ordinariness of today\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s art that is formed by developing around a set of guided thoughts based on uncertainties distinguishes her and indicates that she has an intellectual standing.
Most of the different \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"theories\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" of creation ignore the process of performance and lack any definition of production. The individual can only create what is not lacking, accordingly creation has escaped from what exists in a contradictory way, or the individual can bear witness to an instantaneous image, which makes creation a divine manifestation, a mystery. In both cases, all possibilities of explanation concerning change are negated. While there is nothing that occurred in the first case, in the second it is not possible to explain what there is. All fictions concerning human aim to exclude creator on the plane of real information. \\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\"Creative process\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\" is in fact not a process, but a work. (6) And with her work that lasted for months of long sessions, the artist has considered this as a long-term work rather than a process. In short, it is obvious that the work was created in a labor intensive way.
The relation between the images on the canvas and the deep texture that constitutes the lower layers is eminently harmonious and therefore, although they were performed with a mixed technique based on photographic image; their pictorial characteristics are more prominent. Other than this, from time to time we find ambiguities in the works. These ambiguities leave a variety of pleasant looking tastes on the surfaces the artist set forth by internalization, and these in turn contribute to the poetry of the paintings. In addition to the poetry of the works, their expressiveness turn into a philosophical expression and this brings along a separate value and force to the works. The fact that visibility and noticeability being the most important elements in a work of art has been known for centuries, yet not all visible and noticeable paintings are works of art. In other words, we cannot state that the image and the thoughts are on two separate hands. It is important how the image is shaped and processed by the thought, since otherwise the viewer cannot enter into an impressionistic process with perception. The visuality perceived from Pemra Aksoy\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s works is the relation created by the new status that is connected with the old. It enables us to establish a new relation with time and also brings the concepts such as existence, life and death to mind.
Existence has always been perceived in what exists, and all living beings have been included to this discourse as a being living the time. Existence is considered as if it is a phenomenon of the present time in which we live together with what exists. At this point, a question comes to mind. Are those that exist now, cease to exist later on? Do experiences, memories; those that are produced and anything that is left behind -including thought and artistic production- fade away? Of course not. Disappearance of a living or anything else does not mean that it cease to exist in the real terms. If that was the case, then there would be no meaning to life. There would be no literature, art or philosophy. Then when thinking about the nonexistent it is necessary to think it with its past and its future, in other words by extending its brackets instead of considering the present or the process. One should also question even the past, long before the process of existence, and the future that will take place long after, in a sense death itself over the life.
According to Derrida\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s approach, death is the individuality of responsibility. That is to say that it is one and only. It does not take anyone\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'s place, and as long as the responsible subject exist it know that no one is going to take its place and that it cannot hand over this responsibility. Exactly from this point, the value of the time in which the being exists is better understood. Therefore, not consuming this period of time casually and leaving particularly those happy and precious memories to the future either in an imaginative or literal way adds value to the process after that, and in a sense eternalizes the individual who passed away.
Even if the individual pursues the marks of its own past, this is not an easy task. Everything remembered is piece by piece. The dates or the experienced moments remain in the dark. Those that are remembered are not clear and require points of bearing, usually some objects of the past and particularly family pictures, to be recalled properly. In order to preserve the things of the past or the memories, one has to find a place for them, as Pemra Aksoy found that place on the her large scale canvases.
A woman playing the mandolin, an old man standing next to an old car, women sitting on a sofa in the house, those who sit in a coffee house, women walking on the road in yellow dresses, a child with a bicycle and poses given in the house... Looking at all these, one can feel that the commitment the people of the time had to the soil, to what they owned and to life, that their nobility are the projections that are preserved in mind within the symmetry of time. Maybe this is the reason why they create such an influence. The emotional relation established with the pictures and the logical thinking that develops accordingly is something that the artist defines and desires to be understood. This is a psychological case where the artist tries to affect the way how we see those that she wants us to see. In this respect, it can be interpreted that the photo-pentural structure the artist exhibits is the relation she established between the past and the present without any contradiction. The richness of the perceptible content may be because of this.
Beyond setting forth a pleasant theme, Pemra Aksoy’s “Sepia Stories” that handles the bodily postures corresponding to logical thinking within a photograph-painting relation, is noticeable in terms of the way it exhibits a mysterious past and it signifies the dimensions of the relations it has with the reality.
Denizhan Ozer,
May 2013, Istanbul
1. “Why hasn’ t everything already disappeared?”, Jean Baudrillard, Bogazici University Publishing House, 2012, p. 19, Translated by Oğuz Adanir
2. “How Modernity Forgets”, Paul Connerton, Sel Publications, 2012, Pa.43 Translated by Kubra Kelebekoglu)
3. “The Imaginary”, Jean Paul Sartre, Ithaki Publications, 2006, p.108. Translated by Alp Tümertekin)
4. \"Eye and Mind\", Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Metis Publications, 2006, p.67, Translated by Ahmet Soysal)
5. \"Social Production of Art\", Janet Wolff, Ozne Publications, 2000, p.97, Translated by Aysegul Demir)
6. \"Social Production of Art\", Janet Wolff, Ozne Publications, 2000, p.133, Translated by Aysegul Demir.)
May 2013